Can You Really Run Away?
by blackwolfgirl87
Summary: The loss of what you think is true love is not easy to get over. Leah's pain over Sam and Emily's betrayal makes her cold and bitter. How far will Leah need to go to? And what will she find there? Leah's story. Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so I'm taking a new course on this story. I noticed that there really aren't all that many Leah stories out there, and the poor girl needs some love! So here it is. Read and review!**

Tears welled up in my eyes as I turned away from Jake and ran into the trees, vibrating violently. In a fit of temper, I turned and spit clumsily in Jake's direction before bursting into the silver wolf that was me. I ran hard and furiously, my strong legs eating up the distance in great bounding strides.

I knew that my pack thought I was bitter, cold-hearted bitch. They knew it was because of Sam.

They were right.

But they didn't truly know. How could they understand having the one thing you loved most ripped away from you by the one of the only people you thought you could trust?

And then, when the pain of that had finally started to heal, you discover that you, too, are part of his pack of werewolves. You share his thoughts, and he shares yours.

Bitter? Me? Never.

I was strong. I didn't take things lying down. So I fought back and protected myself, thinking of things the pack would rather forget.

It took my mind off Emily and Sam. So my pack hated me; so what? I wasn't in this for the popularity. Sam kept trying to talk to me, but I pushed him away. How dare he? He has the nerve to ruin my life, and then he tries to tell me it isn't his fault?

Because yes, Sam, I want to forgive you for ripping my heart out and stomping on it. I want to forgive you for knowing every thought that I have. I want to forgive you for lying to me.

This is my life now. I am a cold, bitter bitch. And I am safe. I ran harder, faster, stronger. 

Because if I can just move fast enough, I can run away from it all.

**Sorry, guys. I know it's really short, but the chapters will get longer, I promise! Remember, read and review!**


	2. Hysterical

Finally, my paws slowed

**This chapter took me ages to write! Sorry if the beginning is a bit loopy, I wrote it at about three in the morning. As always, read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I, much as I might wish to, do not own Twilight, or any Twilight characters. Sniffles**

Finally, my paws slowed. I slacked off to a canter, then a trot, and finally a lazy, leisurely walk. I was in an unfamiliar forest, far from La Push. For a moment, fear overtook me. La Push was my home, where my family was, where my life was.

But maybe it was better this way. Maybe I could start over. Leave my past behind.

_Who are you kidding, Leah, _I though angrily. _You won't do it. You won't leave Sam behind._ No matter how much I lied to myself, deep down, I knew. I was still in love with Sam. I always would be.

I was such a masochist.

But I didn't need to hold onto that part. I could let it go. I could be a new Leah, without a long and painful past. Sam didn't need to control my life. I could get my life back. I was strong. Too strong to let a guy who didn't love me jerk me around. I was nobody's toy. 

I made up my mind and began running, searching for civilization. But I was miles from anywhere, even a tiny town. So I kept running, running and searching. 

But solitude can only last so long. I'd been lucky that none of my pack had phased yet.

_Leah! _Seth's voice echoed in my mind, and I flinched. _Why are you leaving? Don't go._

My heart squeezed. Seth, my dad, and Sam were the only men I had ever loved. Dad was dead, and Sam was jackass. I was the only thing Seth had left. How could I leave him? 

_He still has Mom,_ I argued with myself. But since Dad's death, Mom had slowly retreated into herself, barely acknowledging when her two children had become werewolves.

_Leah, where are you?_ Paul. He was my best friend in the pack, the only one who put up with my mood swings. Probably because he had such a temper himself. _Stay where you are. I'm coming._

I considered. Did I want to go back to my pack? I loved them all, certainly. But they were part of a past and a life that I didn't want to belong to anymore. I wanted to go back to them, to the painful safety that I was so used to. 

But even more, I wanted to find myself again. I wanted to be someone that I knew, and not an empty shell of a girl ripped apart by a man.

_I'm sorry, Seth, Paul. I can't. I need this._

_Leah, come on. Don't go. Please._ Seth's begging pushed me almost to my limit. I was horrible big sister. I was supposed to take care of him, especially now that Mom was so spacey all the time.

_I'll miss you, Leah. I won't follow you, for now. But I'll find you someday, if you don't come back._ Paul. He did have a temper, one that had flared against mine many times, but underneath it, he was a good of a guy as you could find. I knew he wasn't right for me, as a boyfriend, but he'd been the only one there for me when I first joined the pack.

_I'll miss you, too. I love you guys._ With a sigh, I phased. I was near a town, and I knew Seth would only try and guilt me into coming back. He would succeed for sure, so I needed to get away.

I pulled on the shorts and t-shirt that I had brought with me and started running. I would be in town by nightfall.

When I finally got to the town—a tiny, inconsequential place called Valley Falls—I was soaked, miserable, and tired. And I had no money. With a sigh, I phased and slid into the thick, almost waterproof fur that was so familiar. I could sleep outside. 

I padded silently through the forest, looking for a dry, comfortable place to sleep. Valley Falls was worse than Forks!

My ears picked up a low, scared, whimpering, and I turned instinctively toward the sound. It wasn't an animal, but why would someone be out in the forest at night? I followed the sound, becoming more and more certain that whoever was making that pitiful noise was in trouble. But they were shockingly difficult to find. I looked for half an hour with no luck, although the whimpering was very easy to hear.

I passed by a tree for what must have been the third time, and was struck with an idea. The willow's branches swept almost to the ground, creating a safe looking haven. I had figured out a little while ago that the whimpering was coming from a small child. The den-like weave of branches would have seemed like a good spot for a lost child.

I nudged my way into the tree, pushing aside the sweeping branches. There was a shocked gasp, and then a high-pitched, terrified scream. I yelped in surprise. I hadn't thought about how I would look to a stranger, let alone a little girl. 

_Too late now,_ I thought glumly. I couldn't risk letting this kid in on my secret. So I dropped to the ground and whined, doing my best to seem as unthreatening as possible. She stopped screaming, at least, and I sighed in relief. I had never liked little kids, and crying little kids probably topped my list of Things That Most Annoy Me.

I wriggled forward a little bit, trying to show that I meant no harm. As she tried to decide what to make of me, I studied her.

She wasn't that young—maybe four or five. She had long dark hair that straggled down her back in a tangled, leafy mess. Her face was covered in dirt, save for a few pink tear tracks sliding down her face. Her deep brown eyes were red-rimmed from crying, and her matching pink pants and shirt were ripped and dirty. All in all, she was a pretty pitiful sight.

I must have looked harmless enough, because a moment later, she sniffled, "Doggy?" in a tear-soaked voice. I whined lowly and got up, walking toward her. She was shivering. Carefully I settled myself around her, creating a living fur coat. As a werewolf, I didn't feel the chill at all, but to a regular human it must have been freezing. 

The little girl sighed tremulously and buried her snotty face in my fur. I choked back a snarl of disgust. "Doggy," she whispered again, wrapping her sticky arms around me. A second later she was asleep.

If only I was so lucky. I tried all night to get to sleep, but the girl wouldn't shut up, constantly muttering. 

She was cute, despite the fact that she was depriving me of sleep. Still, when she finally woke up, I was more than ready to find this girl's family and give her back.

"Doggy," she cooed, smiling at me. I grinned back, forgetting once again that I didn't look human. She whimpered when she saw my teeth and I quickly shut my mouth.

"I'm Caowie," she said. I was confused for a moment—what kind of parent named their daughter Caowie? —but then I figured out that she was trying to say Carrie. 

I decided what to do—she could ride on my back while I tracked her scent back to wherever she had come from. The only problem was, how do you explain to a small child that they're supposed to ride you without saying a word and without hands? I laid down, hoping that she would get the hint. 

Crazily enough, she did, marching over on wobbly legs and climbing onto me. "Pony!" she cried with delight. I cracked smile and put my nose to the ground, quickly locating her scent. Thank God it had only drizzled lightly the night before, or I would have never been able to find it.

It turned out she had only wandered about a half a mile from her house. It was very easy to find, nestled in a little pocket among the trees. Surrounding it was a field dotted with a few cows and horses, which explained how she had figured out what I wanted so fast.

There was a sudden, panicked cry. "Carrie! Get away from that animal!" A young man was running full tilt toward us, toting a serious-looking gun. Quickly I dumped Carrie on the ground and backed away. 

"Doggy!" she screamed, grabbing my leg. I struggled desperately, trying to get away from her. She only hung on tighter. 

The guy was only feet away now, and I got my first good look at him. My heart skipped a beat and I immediately stopped struggling, staring in shock.

He had no such qualms, stopping and pulling the gun up to his shoulder. "Carrie, get away," he warned. I stared numbly, too shocked to do anything. Carrie released my leg and scrambled clumsily away. The boy cocked the gun with a loud click, eliciting a loud screech from Carrie. She ran back in front of me, shielding me with her body. I gasped, snapping out of my trance, and pushed her aside just as the gun went off with a loud _crack._

The guy yelled in horror. "Carrie! Are you all right?" he screamed frantically, running to her.

I lay on the ground, my leg on fire. Thankfully the bullet had missed its mark, but this wasn't much of a trade. Stupid kid! If she hadn't run in front of me, I could have dodged it all together.

Still, I was touched that she'd tried to defend me. It isn't very often that you'll find a little girl who is willing to run in front of a gun.

"I'm fine, Bwett," Carrie was protesting as he examined every inch of her. Then she caught sight of me, and screamed so loud I thought she might actually have been hit, causing Brett to panic and yell, too. I snorted. "You hit Doggy!"

Brett relaxed. "That's because it's dangerous, squirt," he said. "Where were you? We've all been worried sick!"

"I went and played in the woods," the little girl explained solemnly. "And then I got lost, and Doggy found me, and she brought me home, and you shot her!" The last part was said in a loud, accusatory scream, and I winced.

Brett walked over cautiously, picking up his gun on the way. "Carrie, stay back," he said sternly. I watched him silently. There was nothing I could do.

"Bwett, stop!" Carrie screamed, running up behind him and pulling on his pants. Bless that girl. "Doggy is nice! She brought me home! DON'T SHOOT HER!"

Brett lowered the gun, sighing. "Carrie, it's a dangerous animal and it needs to be destroyed he said patiently. Carrie ignored him, running to my side and cuddling against me. I whined and licked her face. She giggled.

Brett was staring in shock. "Carrie, I want you to get up very slowly and back away," he said in a choked whisper. Carrie huffed at her brother. "Bwett! Doggy is good!" she said, patting my leg. I yelped as she jostled the wound. "Bwett!" she screamed. "Come help Doggy!"

I was getting a little bit sick of Brett, myself. He was being extraordinarily stupid.

It seemed Carrie shared my sentiments. "MOOOOOOOOMMY!" she screamed, causing both Brett and me to wince. A well dressed woman started sprinting towards us.

"Carrie! Carrie! Oh, baby, Mommy's been so worried!" she screeched, snatching Carrie up in her arms and covering her with kisses. Carrie grimaced.

"Mommy! Bwett shot Doggy!" she yelled. The woman looked around, saw me, and screamed.

"Brett! Shoot it, Brett! Shoot it!" she screamed, running away with Carrie as the little girl pounded on her.

"Mommy, stop! Doggy is good! She saved me! Look!" she demanded, wriggling out of her mothers grasp and dropping to the ground. She ran toward me as fast as her fat little legs would carry her, as her mother stumbled clumsily after her. I yelped as she jumped on me, her foot swinging into my injured leg. She circled her arms around my neck in a death grip that indicated she was not going to be letting go any time soon. I could breathe—barely. 

"Honey," her mother said in a panicked shrill. "Get away from that animal! It's dangerous!"

"Well, hang on," said Brett, his tone calmer. "This is the second time she's done that, and that animal hasn't touched her yet."

"The SECOND time?" the lady asked hysterically.

"Calm down, Mom," Brett said. "It seems fine. And I probably should take a look at that leg."

"No! I forbid you to go near that animal! Carrie, get away!" she yelped, grabbing the gun out of Brett's hands. He gripped it harder.

"Mom, if the wolf hasn't attacked anyone, it's illegal to shoot it," Brett reminded her.

"Brett! Don't you see that thing? It's huge! I won't have it! Either you shoot it, or I will!"

Gently I shook Carrie off and climbed painfully to my feet. Limping heavily, I lurched away into the trees. It would be far smarter to get away while I still could.

"No! Doggy! Wait!" Carrie cried, running after me and hugging my leg. "Don't go!" I licked her face and slid my leg out of reach. I forced mydelf to go faster, and soon I was sprinting into the trees. Carrie tried to chase after me, but she gave up after a while.

Great. I was alone, penniless, soaked, wounded and alone. All I could hope for was that one of my pack would phase soon.

**Hope you guys like it…this is one of the longest chapters I've ever written! Read and review! Come on, just press the little blue button. It won't bite, I promise!**


	3. Princess Doggy

I stumbled around in the forest for about an hour before collapsing under a tree, completely spent

**This chapter is kind of the turning point for everything. Read and review!**

**Disclaimer: Yes, I do own Twilight. That's exactly why I'm on here writing FANfiction.**

I stumbled around in the forest for about an hour before collapsing under a tree, completely spent. My leg was throbbing painfully, and I was sure it was getting infected. Hurt like a mother, too. I hadn't eaten in ages, and I was utterly starving.

After tossing around for a few hours, I slipped off into a troubled sleep and woke up feeling no more rested than I had before I had fallen asleep. My leg hurt even more and looked swollen. I licked it carefully, wincing as I nudged the bullet that was lodged in my leg. Thankfully it had missed the bone, so I hadn't broken anything.

I tried to phase back, but I guess I wasn't concentrating or something, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't phase back. I was completely helpless.

I had no other choice. If I wanted to live, I had to go back. I dragged myself up and started my painful way back to the house from this morning.

When I finally made it there, it was almost dawn, the sun just beginning to rise over the trees. Hopefully someone on the farm would be up…or not. I was nervous about returning to the place I had gotten my injury, but it was the only place I knew to go.

At least Carrie would be glad to see me.

I crept around the side of the barn and sat down in front of the closed doors, keeping my leg off the ground. Judging from what I knew about farms, someone would be out to feed the animals very soon.

I sat there for about ten minutes before Brett rounded the side of the barn, humming under his breath. Once more, I felt that strange little thrill go through my chest, and I was struck dumb for a moment.

Brett, on the other hand, had leapt about five feet into the air when he saw me. I stayed where I was and whined, hoping he would get the message as easily as his sister had.

What a miracle. Apparently intelligence was a dominant quality in these two children. Brett pulled a heavy work glove over his hand and walked forward cautiously, his hand extended warily to me. I gave it a cursory sniff for the sake of my pretense and whined again.

He moved forward very carefully and knelt on the ground before me. Nervously he lifted my leg from the ground and examined it, his hands probing gently inside the wound. I yelped as he moved a bit too roughly and he drew his hand back as though he'd been burned. It unbalanced him, and he fell on his butt. I snorted in laughter, and he glared at me like he knew.

"Don't laugh at me," he said. His voice was pleasantly deep and warm when he wasn't scared. "I'm trying to help you." He picked up my leg again, this time with a little more confidence.

Concentration was a good look for him. His green eyes sparkled even more than usual, contrasting sharply with his dark hair.

"Well," he finally sighed. "It's in there good. I should be able to get it out, but it's starting to get infected, and that's what worries me."

It struck me as slightly strange that he was talking to what seemed to be a dog, but I thought it was cute.

"You're different," he mused, staring at me. "It almost looks like you know what I'm saying."

Then again, maybe it wasn't a habit of his.

"You did save her, didn't you?" he continued, still watching me. "Carrie."

If I had been human, I would have been blushing long ago from his intense scrutiny. Thank God I was a wolf.

"Stay here," he told me. "I'm going to see about getting that bullet out." He walked off without a backward glance, as though he knew that I would be right here waiting when he came back.

When he returned, he was armed with a vicious-looking pair of tweezers and a wad of cloth. He reclaimed his original spot, unfolding the wad, which turned out to be a muzzle. He lifted it to my face and attempted to slide it on. I shook my head, growling. He frowned at me. "Don't growl at me like that. I don't want you trying to take chunk out of me," he said. I stared. He was being remarkably bold for someone who was kneeling in front of a potentially dangerous, potentially wild animal.

He used my surprise to his advantage, quickly pulling the muzzle on and snapping it into place. I shook my head wildly at the unfamiliar feeling. I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all.

"Calm down," Brett said, running a hand down my back and smoothing the hackles that had gone up. Hearing his voice made me feel calmer. "I'm not going to hurt you, but I'm not entirely sure that you won't hurt me. Okay?" He lifted up my leg and settled my paw on his knee, steadying it with one hand. With the other he groped for the tweezers.

At first it seemed like it would be all right. It didn't hurt that much as Brett carefully probed my wound.

Then he dug in where the bullet was, and I yelped in pain. "Shhhhh," he said soothingly, trying to distract me from what he was doing. "This will just take me a second. I'm just looking for it, and once I find it, I'll pull it out and we'll see if we can find some disinfectant, okay?" It occurred to me that he was talking to me to keep me from biting his head off. Like I would ever do that.

With a final jab that elicited a loud howl from me, he grabbed the bullet, drawing it slowly out until it was no longer inside me. We both stared at the gory ball in fascination.

"Ouch," Brett said, wincing. "Sorry about that. What do you say we go find something to put on it?"

At that moment, Carrie came racing around the side of the barn. "Doggy!" she screamed when she saw me. She immediately wrapped her arms around my neck in a hug. Brett smiled, his face lighting up. I nuzzled her face gently, wagging my tail. She reached around the back of my head and unbuckled the straps of the muzzle, letting it fall to the ground. Brett seemed alarmed when I opened my mouth, rotating my jaw, but relaxed when I closed it again.

"Brett? Have you fed the horses yet?" someone shrilled in an annoying voice. Great. The mother from hell was back.

"Brett? Where are y—AHHHHH!" she screamed, leaping backwards in fright. I coughed a bark in laughter, and Brett and Carrie cracked smiles as well.

"OH MY GOD!" she screamed. "IT JUST SNARLED AT ME! IT'S GOING TO KILL US ALL!"

"Mom!" Brett barked, his good natured smile gone. "Get a grip! The dog is not going to hurt us. She came back to ask for help," he said, raising the gore-encrusted bullet for her to see.

"Doggy nice," Carrie added. Their mother just stared, her chest still heaving up and down with fright.

"You're sure?" she said, watching me warily. "Absolutely sure?"

"Yes, Mom," Brett said patiently. "She's not going to hurt anyone."

"Well, then," she said briskly, apparently already over her fright. "Get her cleaned up, she's filthy. I'll put in a call to the vet later." She strode away. Carrie chased after her.

"Does this mean we can keep her, Mommy?" she asked breathlessly. "Pwetty pwease?" Her mother smiled warmly at her.

"Yes, it does, honey. Now go do your chores, or we're all going to be late." Carrie squealed with joy and ran off in the direction of the house, leaving me feeling a little woozy. Now I was someone's _pet._ How on earth was I going to get out of this one?

Brett ran his hand down my back, and I shivered slightly. His touch still sent thrills through me, and I could hardly take my eyes off him. I trusted him implicitly, which was a good thing, since now these people apparently owned me.

_Run away! _My instincts were ordering me to get away from these people as fast as I could run. But I couldn't quite bring myself to run away from Brett.

_Leah? _Paul's voice was hesitant in my mind. _What's going on?_

I sent him all of my very confused feelings in a huge, tangled lump. It was few minutes before he responded. When he did, it was nothing like what I had been expecting.

_Leah, you've imprinted,_ he thought gently. I let out a choked gasp.

_What?_

_On Brett. I'm surprised you didn't recognize it. You've seen it in Sam's mind, haven't you?_

_It's just been a while, I guess. Well, this is just great. They guy I imprinted on thinks I'm a dog._

_Yeah, that could be a problem. Try and break it to him gently._

_You imprinted? Seriously? That's awesome! When can we meet him? _Seth was overly enthusiastic.

_Probably you could meet him, if it weren't for the fact that he thinks I'm his pet._

_Huh?_ I explained the whole thing to him, and by the time I was done, it was all Seth could do to keep from collapsing into laughter right there.

_Nice job, sis. _

I was so wrapped up in my silent conversation that I had totally forgotten about Brett, who had apparently been trying to get my attention, if the way he knelt down and screamed, "Hey!" into my face. I jumped about five feet in the air from surprise. Paul and Seth snickered nastily in my mind. I snarled at them and turned my attention to Brett. His beautiful green eyes sparkled with amusement as he grinned at me. I froze, gazing up at him. His eyes were so beautiful. So bright, and green, and piercing, and…

_Ew! Quit it, sis!_

_Get out of my head! _I snarled back.

_Believe me, I would if I could_, Seth said smugly. I started to growl, but remembered that Brett was still standing there. Growling might not be such a good idea.

"As I was saying—" Brett cut himself off suddenly. "We need to give you a name," he said thoughtfully. "Besides Doggy. Hey Carrie!" he shouted, the volume of his voice hurting my sensitive ears. "C'mere!"

"Coming!" she cried in her high little girl voice. A minute later, she shot out of the house, her short legs pumping. "What?" she asked breathlessly when she had reached us.

"We need to name her," Brett said, putting his hands on his knees and tipping his head sexily towards me. The wind caught his hair, blowing short strands across his forehead. His eyes were still sparkling…

_Whoa, Leah! _I thought to myself. It was like now that Paul had told me I had imprinted on Brett, I was hyperaware of everything he did.

"Doggy," Carrie said stubbornly, her lower lip jutting out.

"We can't call her Doggy, squirt. Got any other ideas?"

"Princess Doggy." I groaned to myself. God, I hoped Brett would pick my name, otherwise I would end up sounding like a lapdog. My pack would have a field day with that one.

_No kidding,_ Paul laughed in my mind. _Princess Doggy._

_Jackass._

"Carrie, look how big she is. She needs a good strong name, okay?"

"Big Doggy."

"Squirt," Brett sighed in frustration. "Nothing with Doggy, okay?"

"Can we name her Star?"

"Star," Brett said. "That sounds good. Is that okay with you, Star?"

Star. I liked it. I wagged my tail briefly. Brett laughed. "Star it is, then. Carrie, can you run to the house and get some antiseptic cream and gauze? We need to bandage her leg."

"Okay!" Carrie cried happily, running back towards the house. While she was gone, Brett knelt down and picked up my leg, examining it once more. My fur felt every motion of his hand acutely as he carefully probed the wound.

"You'll be fine, Star," he assessed, smiling at me. I grinned happily at him and barked once. He ruffled my fur playfully.

"Here you go, Bwett," Carrie said sweetly, handing him an armful of medical stuff. He set most of it on the ground, selecting a tube of antiseptic cream and spreading it over the wound. I winced slightly, whining softly as the cream stung my wound.

"Sorry," Brett murmured softly. He replaced the cream and picked up a roll of gauze. He wrapped it tightly around the wound several times and snipped it off with the scissors. Finally he picked up some bright blue Vetrap and wrapped that around the gauze to hold it in place.

"There you go," he said, satisfied. I wagged my tail, and in a bold move that was very uncharacteristic for me, licked his face. Hey, I was dog. I was allowed to do things like that.

"Hey!" he protested, laughing and grabbing me in a headlock. We wrestled playfully for a while, but pretty soon he picked himself up and dusted off his clothes.

"See you, Star," he said, grimacing. "I've got to go to school." I whined unhappily, and he laughed. "Yeah, I don't want me to go either. Later, girl," he said, walking out of the barn. I watched him go sadly.

Oh, I was in _such_ trouble.

**So there you go. Chapter 3. If you liked it, tell me in a review! And I don't know why, but I keep getting all these messages that people have put me on their alerts list or whatever, but no review. I don't know if they just didn't review or what, but could somebody explain to me in a PM? Thanks. Don't forget, I trade reviews for cookies******


	4. Mascot

I buckled Carrie into her car seat and put my car into drive

**Here you go, guys. This whole chapter is going to be in Brett's POV when he goes to school. As always, remember, REVIEW!!**

I buckled Carrie into her car seat and put my car into drive. We made it to her preschool in about two minutes.

"Bye Bwett!" she shouted, running towards the doors. I chuckled. Hopefully her speech class would fix that speech impediment of hers.

I drove away from Carrie's preschool, thinking. Star was a weird dog. She was absolutely gigantic, a monster. But even though she looked like a wolf, she didn't look wild at all. I doubted a wild animal would have brought Carrie home—or even left her alive.

She also seemed very independent—I could tell she hated having to ask for help.

Star was a puzzle. But one I would have to figure out later. For now, I had school to concentrate on.

"Hey, baby," my girlfriend Sarah **(A/N: Uh oh! Complications****** cooed as I got out of the car. "You didn't call me all weekend."

"Sorry," I said guiltily, smiling as she wrapped her arm around my waist. "Carrie went missing."

"Oh no!" Sarah gasped, horror struck. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine," I assured her. "In true Carrie fashion, she found a new pet. Star brought her home."

"Star?" Sarah asked, her eyebrows wrinkling adorably in confusion.

"She's a dog," I explained. "Huge. But she was a stray in the woods, and must have found Carrie. She brought her home."

"That's amazing!" Sarah said. "Dogs are so smart. I wish my parents would let me get one. How's she doing?"

"Not too well," I admitted, shamefaced. "I shot her. Only in the leg, though," I said hastily, seeing Sarah's horrified face. "I thought she was attacking Carrie. But she's going to be fine. We're keeping her."

"Ooh!" Sarah squealed. "Can I come over after school? I want to see her!"

"Sure babe," I agreed, grasping her chin gently with one hand and pressing my lips to hers. "I'm sorry I didn't call."

She smiled against my mouth. "It's fine."

Sighing, I broke off the kiss. "We should probably get to class. See you at lunch?"

"Of course," she giggled, standing on her tiptoes to kiss my one last time. "Bye, baby."

I watched her walk away, her blond curls bouncing slightly and her hips swaying. She was an incredible cheerleader, the captain of her squad. But unlike a stereotypical cheerleader, she didn't have a mean bone in her body. Sarah was nice to everybody.

My morning passed in a blur. I greeted my hockey buddies, getting revved up for the game that night. We were playing the Bears, undefeated for the last three years. But this year, so were we, and we had a secret weapon—a recent transfer from Minnesota who was an incredible right wing. We worked well together, and this year we thought we had a chance.

When I told them about Star, they wigged out. "Are you kidding, man?" Bryan yelled when I told him. "Bring her to the game! Mascot!"

I hadn't even thought of that. It was perfect, too since our team was called the Wolves.

"Sounds good," I grinned. "She'll be there."

"Awesome!" Bryan headed off to let the rest of the team know. He was my cocaptain, and the best defenseman I had ever seen.

Finally I go to English, my last class before lunch. People were wishing me luck right and left.

Too bad my teacher wasn't a Wolves fan. "If only your grade was as good as your playing, Mr. Taylor," she was fond of saying.

"Sit down, Mr. Taylor," she said snidely, glaring at me. I sighed. It's not my fault people like me and want to see our team go to the top.

English dragged by. I was bored almost to tears by the in-depth discussion of the symbolism of a red balloon.

When the bell rang—_finally_—I shoved my stuff back in my backpack and raced out of the room, dumping my books in my locker and heading to lunch. Usually I sat with Sarah at the cheerleader table—yeah, yeah, I know—but on game days the team sat at the designated team table. She and the half-dozen other cheerleaders who dated hockey players deviated from their usual table and sat with us.

"Hey, baby," Sarah greeted me, seating herself comfortably on my lap. I grinned.

"You know it," I replied, kissing her amid the catcalls of my team.

"Go French your girlfriend somewhere else, man!" Sam yelled, causing Sarah to blush and look down.

"Shut up!" I yelled back. "You just wish you had a girlfriend to French."

Cries of, "Ohhhh!" echoed around the table. "He got you, man," Bryan told Sam gleefully. Sarah smiled shyly at Sam, her cheeks still red, and turned her face back to mine.

"I can't wait to see your dog," she said excitedly. "She sounds gorgeous."

"She's all right," I agreed. "Tough little monster."

"Monster, eh?" Sarah grinned. "Sounds like she'll be a good mascot."

I smiled embarrassedly. "You heard?"

"The way Bryan was crowing about it, you would have thought your mascot was going to be Wayne Gretzky himself."

I grinned. That sounded like Bryan. "How's the squad doing?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation away from my mascot dog.

It worked a little too well.

"Oh!" Sarah cried, leaping to her feet. "I almost forgot!"

"Table up, guys!" she called. I stared at her in shock, but her squad scurried into a frenzy of action, clearing what was left of their lunches and climbing on top of the tables they had pushed together.

"Give me a W!" Sarah shouted, facing her squad, which was lined up on the table.

"W!" they shouted back.

"Give me an O!"

"O!"

"Give me an L!"

"L!"

"Give me a V!"

"V!"

"Give me an E!"

"E!"

"Give me an S!"

"S!"

"What does that spell?"

"Wolves!"

The squad started a clapping rhythm—clap, clap, clapclap, clap, clap and repeated it three times. Then they yelled "Wolves! Wolves! Wolves!" **(A/N: I know, I know, the cheer is really bad. Cut me a break. I'm not a cheerleader, and I don't know any. I did the best I could.)**

Meanwhile, Sarah was flipping back and forth across the line of tables, twisting her body into outrageous positions. The chant was repeated three times, and on the last cry of, "Wolves!" Sarah leaped off the table and soared into a magnificent aerial, landing gracefully on her feet.

The cafeteria burst into cheers, people screaming and whistling. I glared at the few guys who dared wolf-whistle Sarah and headed over to her.

"That was awesome, babe," I told her, smiling as I kissed her. "I still can't believe you can do that."

"So you like it?" she asked anxiously. I chuckled.

"Liked it? Babe, I loved it," I told her, still grinning. "Your cheer is going to give us good karma tonight."

She smiled happily. "Good."

When the frenzy over the impromptu cheer had died down, lunch was almost over. I shoveled the remainder of my food into my mouth. Sarah groaned and smacked my shoulder.

"Brett! Mouth closed," she scolded.

I grinned. "Horry," I mumbled around the food in my mouth.

The afternoon passed much faster than the morning classes, and in what felt like no time at all I was standing by my car waiting for Sarah.

Small, soft hands covered my eyes, obscuring my vision. "Hi, baby," Sarah breathed, her body pressed against mine. I smiled.

"Ready to go?" I asked her. "I don't have to pick up Carrie today."

"Uh-huh." She smiled, reaching for her door. I beat her to it, opening it and waiting for her to get settled before closing it again. Then I climbed in and started the engine, before easing carefully out of the crowded parking lot.

It took no time at all to get home, but when we got out, Star was nowhere to be found.

"Star!" I called. We waited for a little bit. I was about to call again when the bushes shook and whispered, and Star squeezed out between them, snorting with irritation. When she saw Sarah, she stopped short, her hackles rising slightly.

"C'mere, Star," I called. She trotted over willingly enough, but her wary eyes stayed on Sarah.

"This is Sarah," I said. "She's my girlfriend." Star stared up at me, her black eyes filled with betrayal and a sharp, slicing pain. She'd looked sad before, but nothing compared to now.

"Hi, Star," Sarah cooed, crouching down to pet her. Star stiffened and let out a barely audible growl that sounded menacing even to me. Sarah yelped and backed away.

"Star!" I yelled, shocked. I whacked her lightly on the rump. She looked up at me, her eyes sparking with something immeasurably dangerous, and my breath caught in my throat. Then she dropped her head, looking hurt. She whined up at me, begging for something.

"Sorry," I said to Sarah, who was cowering a few feet away. "I don't know what got into her. Maybe she was abused?"

Star rolled an eye at me, and I stifled a laugh. Her look said, _Nice cover, idiot,_ just as clearly as if she'd spoken.

Sarah walked back cautiously, extending her hand to Star, who took a brief, listless sniff. After the initial drama, she had settled onto her hindquarters and looked as though she intended to stay right there for the rest of the night. Warily, Sarah stroked her head, becoming bolder when Star stayed completely still.

"You weren't kidding when you said she was huge," Sarah said, amazed.

"Yeah," I said, grinning. "She'll scare the other team away for sure."

"No kidding," Sarah laughed. Her gaze fell on the bandage encircling Star's leg. "Is that where you shot her?"

"Yeah," I said sheepishly. "But I got it out."

"Of course you did," Sarah purred, placing her hands on my chest. I grinned at her and led her into the barn, pinning her against the wall. Star watched us go silently, her eyes dark and pain-filled.

I was distracted as my lips roved over Sarah's face and neck. I hadn't been around Star long at all, but I could tell that there was something that was bothering her, most likely Sarah, if her reaction was any indication. I was confused by the way she had growled at her. Star was so easygoing. She seemed sad, but very calm and easy. It was hard to imagine her ever being fierce.

Sarah's hand massaged the back of my neck, tangling in my hair, and my mind snapped back to the present. We continued making out for a few minutes longer, until I gently pushed her away.

"You have to go," I sighed.

"Why?" Sarah pouted, disappointed.

"Team law. It's bad luck to see your girlfriend within three hours of the game."

"Oh, so I'm bad luck now?" Sarah asked coyly. "Thanks a lot."

I grinned at her. "You know how hockey players are. We have superstitions about anything you can think of."

"Obviously," Sarah retorted sarcastically. "Well, if I'm going to upset the outcome of the game, I guess I better go. You're driving me, so since your game is at eight, and it's four fifty now, you might want to hurry."

"Shit!" I yelled. "I didn't know it was so late! Come on, we have to go right now!" I took off, practically dragging her to my car. I jumped into the car, forgoing manners in the face of the game. Sarah scrambled in quickly, laughing like crazy.

"I almost forgot how weird you are about these stupid things, she said fondly.

"They're not stupid!" I protested, laughing as I raced to her house. "They're extremely important."

"Uh-huh," she smirked. "You better hope there isn't a cop around here."

I grimaced, and reined in my speed a little. 4:55. I had five minutes. I pushed my car as fast as it would go, cops be damned.

We made it to her house at 4:59. "Go! Go! Go!" I cried, turning away from her. I could hear her giggling as she ran up the sidewalk to her house. Smiling myself, I put the car back in gear and drove back home, obeying the speed limit this time.

**Hope everybody liked it! I wrote it during Theology class…yeah, I know. I'm bad. But you can make up for my badness by reviewing!! So please, push that pretty little blue button and REVIEW!!**

**And yes, in case you were wondering, some hockey players really are that fanatical about their superstitions. Gotta love those crazy boys, huh?**


	5. History Is Repeating Itself

After Brett and Carrie left, I wandered around the farm for a while, thinking

**Okay, guys, here's the fifth chapter. Btw, it's in Leah's POV. As always, remember, review!!**

**Disclaimer: I forgot this last chapter. But I do not own any recognizable Twilight characters. Even though I wish I did.**

After Brett and Carrie left, I wandered around the farm for a while, thinking. For the first time in a long time, I actually felt like Leah, and not a pseudo-Leah. I found myself actually seeing the world for the first time, the way the rising sun made a glowing halo over the tops of the trees and dew glittered like perfect diamonds on bright green blades of grass.

It was perfect.

So, would you like to take a guess who decided to phase and ruin my morning?

If you guessed Sam, you'd be right.

_Leah! Where are you? You need to come back._

_Why, Sam? It doesn't seem like you need me anyway. And wouldn't you and Emily be happier without the bitter harpy around?_ Sam's presence made me revert immediately to my old bitter self, and I hated him for it.

_Emily misses you. She wants to be friends again._

_Oh, I get it. There's something wrong with the lovebirds perfect little paradise. Well, guess what? I don't give a shit._

_Leah. Can we cut the immaturities? _

_Immaturities? Is that your word for them now?_

_Leah, I order you to come back right now._

I dug my paws into the ground, fighting the pull of the alpha. I bared my teeth in stubbornness. _No._

I felt Sam's instinctive, ancient fury as I disobeyed his orders.

_Now, Leah!_

My eyes were scrunched shut, every muscle tensed and fighting itself. I pressed myself to the ground, as if Mother Nature herself would tether me to her and keep me here.

_Is there any reason you want me to come back, Sam? Besides the fact that your precious Emily is a little unhappy? Or do you just enjoy making me miserable?_

_Leah, no. _I could feel his pain as he heard my accusation.

_Then why won't you just let me be, Sam? Did it even occur to you that I might have run away for some other reason than to be difficult?_ Even though he didn't say it, I could feel what he was thinking. _No._

_Exactly. You don't know me, Sam. Maybe you thought you did, at one point. But you don't anymore. And you know why? Because you changed me._

He didn't bother to deny it. We both knew it was true.

_Let me heal myself, Sam._

_Why are you singing Happy Birthday over and over? What don't you want me to know?_

_That's for me to know, and you to maybe find out a long time from now._

_Leah…_ he snarled.

_Screw off, Sam. Just leave me alone. I'll come back when I'm ready. Which, come to think of it, might be never._

Before his anger could build up any more, I phased as quickly as I could. My clothes had disappeared somewhere in the forest, and I needed to find them. So I started walking, thankful that very few people passed through this part of the woods.

After looking for the better part of two hours, I finally found them, wadded in a ball under the tree I had nursed my leg under. Quickly I pulled them on, grimacing at their grimyness.

I spent the rest of the day wandering through the forest, reliving my conversation with Sam and planning what I would say to him if he happened to be phased while I was.

I also wondered vaguely how I could Sam away from my most precious secret—Brett. As soon as my mind veered even slightly from my single-minded anger at Sam, my thoughts shifted completely. All I could think of was how his green eyes sparkled like the dew covered blades of grass, and how he moved so gracefully, like he was gliding. But not in a gay way.

I had to tell him. Soon. But how could I do that? I couldn't phase in front of him. But I needed to. Already it hurt to stay the way I was around him.

I had been so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice the faint sound of a car. I wondered vaguely who it was, and went right back to Brett.

"Star!" Star? Who was Star? The name sounded familiar for some reason…

Oh, shit. Star was me. Cussing under my breath, I ran toward the farm, shimmying out of my tanktop. I had to stop to get my shorts off, hiding them in a clump of bushes. I phased quickly and wrestled straight through the bushes, snorting irritably. With a final push, I popped through the screen of branches, straight to Brett.

But Brett wasn't by himself. I stopped short when I saw the pretty blond girl, pressed too close to him to just be a friend. My hackles rose slightly. How dare she get that close to my Brett?

"C'mere, Star," he called. His voice broke the spell and I trotted over easily.

"This is Sarah," he said to me. "She's my girlfriend."

I choked, hurt slicing through me just as surely as it had when Sam had gone to Emily. I looked up at him, pleading for him to say, "Ha! Just kidding, sucker!"

"Hi, Star," Sarah cooed at me. I had never been a particularly mushy person, and it was a bit more than could take to have my imprint's girlfriend cooing at me like I was some dumb baby. I growled menacingly, warning her away.

She yelped and jumped backwards, her perfect face terrified.

"Star!" Brett yelled, slapping me on the rump. My head flashed up and I let the overpowering anger that he had actually hit me wash over me, filling all my senses. I wanted to rip his throat out.

Brett's eyes filled with fear and he faltered back a step.

The moment passed and was replaced with incredible hurt. My Brett had hit me. I looked down, feeling the familiar cruel waves of pain crash through me, even more intense than when I saw Sam kiss Emily.

"Sorry," I heard Brett say to Sarah, his voice bewildered. "I don't know what got into her. Maybe she was abused?"

I rolled an eye at him through my pain. _Nice try_, I thought.

The blond girl—Sarah—stepped forward warily, extending her and to me. I sniffed it briefly, uninterested. I didn't want to know what the girl who had Brett smelled like.

I sat down, rooting myself to the spot. Like in the forest, I hoped Mother Nature would save me from all of this. Sarah stroked me carefully, her movements becoming more sure as I ignored her.

"You weren't kidding when you said she was huge," Sarah said in an overly amazed tone.

_Gosh, thank you._

"Yeah," Brett grinned adorably. "She'll scare the other team away for sure."

Team? What was he talking about?

"No kidding," Sarah laughed. Her laugh was perfect and tinkly, the laugh of someone who has never had very much to worry about in life. Her eyes went to my bandaged leg. "Is that where you shot her?"

"Yeah,' Brett said sheepishly. "But I got it out," he added hopefully.

"Of course you did," Sarah purred, pressing herself even closer and putting her hands on his chest. Brett smiled down at her in a way that hurt my heart and led her into the barn. Before he disappeared, he looked at me for one fleeting moment, and I allowed myself to hope that he might come back.

But then he looked away and entered the darkness of the barn.

I stayed sitting where I was, pain overtaking all my senses.

Paul had been privy to the whole thing. _I'm so sorry, Leah, _he told me._ I don't know what else to say._

I didn't either. It was clear to me that the two of them really loved each other. Like Sam and I used to be.

I was Emily.

Right then and there, I made up my mind. Sarah made Brett happy, and that was all I wanted for him. I would show him what I was soon, but I would not be like Emily and tear them apart. Eventually, I was sure, they would drift away from each other, and I would be there waiting. Until then, simply being Brett's friend would have to do.

_Oh, Leah,_ Paul said.

_Shut up, Paul, _I snapped. _This is hard enough. Don't say anything._

He must have listened, because I heard no more from him.

Just then, Brett and Sarah emerged from the barn, shaking my resolution to its core.

_No, Leah, _I said to myself. _Don't do to Sarah what Emily did to you. No matter how awful she seems. Nobody deserves this._

Sarah was laughing hysterically as Brett dragged her to the car. He jumped in, waited for her to get in, and pealed away. He was sure in a hurry for something.

"I almost forgot how weird you are about these stupid things," I heard her say. I could hear the love that fueled the amusement behind her words, and it only renewed my determination.

I would not kill Sarah the way Emily killed me.

Brett returned twenty minutes later, Sarah-less. "Hey, Star," he greeted me. "What was with you today?"

I looked at him, letting all of my emotions pour into my eyes, hoping that he would see the pure love in them, and dump Sarah.

No! Swiftly I closed my fist on these feelings and made my eyes flat once more. When I told Brett what I was, and he knew that I was a human, too, not just a wolf, then he could fall in love with me. I would not do anything to make him fall in love with me, like Sam.

"Sarah likes you, you know," he said to me. "Why, I have no idea." I could tell from his grin that he was kidding, so I growled playfully. He laughed.

"So guess what you're doing tonight," he said to me. I looked at him, waiting for him to tell me what he wanted. "You get to come to my game and be the mascot," he said.

A mascot? Well, that would be…interesting.

"The guys will love you," he said, laughing. "Just do me a favor and scare Sam, okay?"

A pang of hurt shuddered through me at the mention of his name, but compared to earlier times, when his name could double me over, this one was faint.

In answer to Brett's request, I licked his face. He laughed and ruffled my fur.

"Should we paint you black and grey?" he asked jokingly. "Team colors, you know." I shook my head vehemently, and his eyes widened. To cover my mistake, I sneezed quickly, and he laughed.

"For a second there, I thought you understood me," he laughed. "I guess not, huh?" I panted up at him in as doglike a manner as I could muster. While I planned on telling Brett eventually—and soon—I wanted it to be on my terms, not on some freaky accident.

"See you, girl," he said. "I've gotta make dinner." Dinner? It was news to me that guys cooked. My pack was too lazy to even pop their own popcorn. So I followed him into his house, in order to watch this legendary event called…._A Guy Actually Cooking For Himself_.

It took about an hour for him to whip up some steaks and mashed potatoes. A very male dinner, but dinner nonetheless. I was impressed.

"Okay, girl," he said. "Ready to go?" I barked in assent, wagging my tail and running towards the car as I had seen dogs on the rez do. He laughed and slung a gigantic bag over his shoulder with ease. Then he grabbed two sticks.

So he played hockey! I loved hockey, but I had been way too small to ever play (a measly 70 pounds when I was eleven) and know that I actually was strong and tough enough, it would be incredibly tough to pick it up.

"Let's go then," he said, throwing his stuff into the trunk and climbing in beside me. I panted happily as he threw it into gear and drove quickly away from the farm.

When he reached the highway, I stuck my head out the window, doing my best to seem as doglike as possible. He laughed, reaching over to ruffle my fur again.

We pulled into the rink ten minutes later, and I jumped out, gamboling beside Brett as he shouldered his bag and headed into the rink. We attracted a lot of stares, and most people looked scared when they saw me.

_They should be,_ Jared joked in my mind. _The bitter harpy will destroy them_.

_Hey! _I retorted. _I'm working on it. Hey, nobody's told Sam about this yet, right?_

_About what?_

_That I imprinted._

_Oh. No._

_Good. Keep it that way, please._

_You know he's going to find out eventually. _

_I know._

_We'll do our best. Good luck, Leah._

_Thanks, _I said, touched.

I followed Brett to the locker rooms, then doubled over, gagging. I rubbed my nose on the ground, trying to get rid of that awful smell.

Brett noticed me whining and grinned. "You'll get used to it," he promised. "It really isn't so bad."

ISN'T SO BAD? IT SMELLS LIKE SOMETHING CRAWLED IN THERE AND DIED! I wanted to yell. But couldn't, of course. So I settled for snarling at him, causing the two other hockey players near us to jump. Brett laughed. Rivals, then. They glared at him, but made no move to come closer. I snarled once more in their general direction and they beat a fast retreat to their locker room.

How they went in there without dying, I will never know.

Brett laughed, and pushed open the door. "You coming?"

I sighed. Right then, I really hated being a mascot. But I walked forward, leading the way into the toxic locker room. I gagged slightly, but Brett was right—once the shock wore off, it wasn't so bad.

Cheers broke out as I trotted inside. "That her, Taylor?" someone shouted.

"This is Star," Brett said, making for a clear spot on the bench.

"Nice dog, Taylor," a gravelly voice said. "Now hurry up. You're late. I expect better from our captain."

Brett hung his head. "Yes sir."

I growled angrily at the man. He didn't need to be so mean.

But the guy didn't even flinch. "You better teach that dog of yours some manners," he warned, glaring at me. I glowered back.

It took almost half an hour for all the guys to get their pads strapped on and the coach to shut up. When we finally made our way to the bench, I was bored out of my mind.

It was a good game, even though the coach really would not shut up and just let me enjoy the game. I did get to growl at a few of the other players, though especially when they got too close to our bench. One of them even screamed.

Brett was really good. He got the best hit of the game and a hat trick—I loved when people got hat tricks.

The Wolves won, 4-2., and even the coach couldn't find too much stuff to criticize.

Brett and I drove home happy, although he stank up the car something awful.

"Have fun, Star?" he asked, grinning. "You made some of those Bears wet their pants!"

I barked in agreement as we pulled into the farm. Carrie came running out. "STAR!" I chuckled as she smothered me in a hug.

"Hey, squirt," Brett said. "Isn't it your bedtime?"

"Mommy let me come say hi to Star," she explained solemnly. "Night, Star!" She ran back to the house.

Two hours later, Brett was finally going to bed. "Come on, Star," he said, patting his bed. I stayed where I was. When he did find out, I wanted it to be as unawkward as possible. Sleeping on his bed with him would produce the opposite effect.

"Night, Star," he mumbled sleepily. I woofed softly and settled myself on the carpet by his bed, going to sleep as soon as my head touched my paws.

**So there you go, people. Sorry if the end is too fast for you guys, but my brother is making me get off the computer. Now, you know what you have to do? PUSH THE LITTLE BLUE BUTTON!!**

**Love you all!**


	6. It's Not Every Day

I spent several weeks with Brett and his family

**Okay, so this definitely isn't my favorite chapter. It pretty much sucks, but I couldn't find anything to make it better, so here it is.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable Twilight characters.**

I spent several weeks with Brett and his family. Sarah grew on me more and more—Brett obviously liked her, and I was beginning to realize why. She was pretty much incapable of holding a grudge or being mean in any way.

If only I could be so forgiving.

At first I had planned to tell Brett about what I was before the week was out, but I kept putting it off, making excuses. I was scared. What if what I was made Brett hate me?

I knew I would have to soon—Sam was becoming even more insistent that I come home, and since I refused to tell him that I had imprinted, he saw no point for me to stay. Several times while I was with Brett, Sam had ordered me home. It got harder and harder each time for me to defy him. Right now it was so bad, I literally had to press myself against the ground and bite something to keep from running home.

Finally, Paul got sick of it. _Either you tell him tomorrow, or I'll come up and tell him myself,_ he threatened.

Well.

I started planning. How could I make Brett believe me? There is no good way to tell someone that you are a werewolf.

But I finally hit on a plan that was about as close to good as I was going to get. Today was Friday. I would put my plan into action tomorrow morning.

Late morning found me wandering through the woods near the farm, waiting for Brett to notice I was gone. Hopefully it wouldn't take long, since I usually helped him feed the animals.

"Staaaaaaar!" Bingo. I'd let him sweat for a little while so that he would be sure to ask the strange girl to help him look for his dog.

I sat in the forest for about half an hour, listening as Brett's calls got more and more frantic. It hurt my heart to put him through this, but it was necessary. Thank God Carrie was at a friend's house—she would have been in tears by now.

It was time. I phased into my human form, slipping on the shorts and tank top I had hidden there earlier. I made my way towards the sound of Brett's voice, my stomach jumping with butterflies. My heartbeat was unusually loud and erratic, pounding through my ears in an almost painful way.

"Hi," I said, stepping out of the trees and wincing as my voice squeaked. Brett started and stared at me, surprised. Well, it wasn't everyday strange girls came wandering out of his forest. I should know. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Yeah," he said, now apparently over his brief fit of surprise. "My dog, Star. Have you seen her?" he asked hopefully.

I took a deep breath. This was where it got sticky.

"I swear to you that I'm not crazy," I said unsteadily. "What I'm going to tell you is completely true."

Brett stared at me again, obviously wondering if I had gone around the bend.

"I'm Star," I blurted out, nervously waiting for his reaction.

He glared at me. "I'm serious. Have you seen her?"

"She's me, Brett," I said softly, willing him with all my heart to accept what I was saying.

"You," he said firmly, "are most definitely not my dog."

"I'll prove it," I said desperately, my earlier plan falling to pieces in the face of the actual event. "Please, Brett, you have to believe me," I begged him.

"How do you know my name?" he asked suspiciously. "Are you one of those freaky stalkers?

"I know your name, and Carrie's name, and your teammates names because I've been living with you, Brett," I explained quickly. "I'm Star. I'll prove it to you."

"Yeah? How?" he said rudely, looking very much like he wanted to turn around and run. I didn't blame him.

"Turn around," I ordered, feeling a little braver.

"Why? So you can pull a trick?" he said stubbornly. "I don't think so."

I shrugged. "Fine." I started pulling off my tank top, hoping he wouldn't call my bluff.

It worked. His eyes widened in alarm. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I don't want to rip my clothes," I explained reasonably. "Do you want to turn around now?"

He turned around quickly.

"Count to three," I said, quickly pulling off my shorts. I phased and waited for him to turn around.

He did, slowly. When he caught sight of me, he looked staggered. I stayed where I was.

"What are you?" he whispered, fear in his eyes.

Silently, I picked up my clothes and walked behind a tree to phase. He looked even more stunned when I walked back out.

"What the hell are you?" he asked again, fear making him harsh. I sighed.

"I'm a werewolf."

"You're a what?" he asked, disbelieving.

"A werewolf," I repeated. "You know, man-wolf?"

"Holy shit," he said. I was unprepared for what he said next.

"That is so cool."

I laughed in relief. "You think so?"

"Duh! It must be totally awesome."

"Glad you think so."

"What's your name, anyway?" he asked curiously.

"I'm Leah," I said, smiling for the first time in what felt like ages. "Leah Clearwater."

"Leah." He rolled it over his tongue, as if tasting it. "Man, I can't wait to see their faces!"

"Whose faces?" I asked warily.

"The team, of course. Wait til they find out you're a werewolf!"

"No!" I shouted, startling him and a few birds who had been nesting nearby. They fluttered noisily out of their trees, chirping in alarm. "You can't ever tell anyone about me. It's a secret."

"Then why did you tell me?" he asked.

Shit. I hadn't planned for this. I couldn't tell him that he was my imprint, even though it was true. I'd promised myself that I wouldn't.

"Well," I began. "That's a whole different story."

"Different?" he asked. "How?"

"You definitely don't want to know," I said, laughing dryly. "Trust me on that one."

"It can't be that bad," he prodded.

"Oh, yes it can," I said. "Please, just drop it."

"So…this whole time…you've been Star?" he asked.

"Yep," I sighed, a blush heating my cheeks as I remembered everything he had told me, including his wish to go all the way with Sarah.

"Oh," he said. "Well, this is awkward."

"I'll say," I mumbled, looking away.

"How 'bout we just start over?" he suggested. "hi, I'm Brett Taylor.

"Leah Clearwater," I said, grinning. "So I hear you're looking for your dog?"

"Not anymore," he replied. "So, how are you planning to work this?"

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"Well, are you planning on staying at my house, or what?"

"Because that wouldn't be too weird," I laughed. "Hi, I'm Leah. I'm also your dog, Star. Can I stay with you for a while? No, I'm going to rent a place somewhere."

"No, you're not," Brett said. "Carrie would kill you."

"You'll have to go to school," he continued. "But you're right, it would be a little weird for me to show up dragging a runaway girl. Which reminds me—why did you come here, anyway? Or is that something else I don't want to know?"

"I needed to get away," I said evasively.

"Bad family life?" he asked sympathetically.

"No…a guy. My alpha, actually," I said, embarrassed.

"Oh. Well, do you want to talk about it?" he offered.

I started to shake my head, then changed my mind. "Yes," I said, doing my best to keep away the threatening tears.

I explained to him about Sam and Emily and the whole werewolf/imprinting deal.

"And now I have to be in their wedding," I sobbed. Yeah, the whole not crying thing? That hadn't worked out so well.

Brett looked a little panicked. Well, what regular guy wouldn't be?

At this point, I had pretty much collapsed in the tears that I had allowed to build up over the course of the last few years. Now the dam was broken, and I was sobbing out every hurt Sam and Emily had ever done to me.

"They just kiss each other like I'm not even there," I sniffled. "It's not fair! What did I ever do to them? What did I do? What did I do?"

Desperately, Brett pulled me to him, trying to stop my crying. "Shhhh," he said, his strong hands rubbing my back soothingly.

"I'm sorry," I wailed, my soggy face buried in his chest.

"Shhhhh, it's okay," Brett said, continuing to rub my back. We stood there for a few more minutes as I gulped, shuddered, and heaved.

When I was finally quiet, I nestled softly against him, drained and spent. I vaguely recalled that there was a reason I shouldn't be doing this, but right at that moment, I couldn't remember what it was. Sooner than I would have liked, he pulled away to examine my face.

"Are you okay now?" he asked.

"Yes," I sniffed weakly. "God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out. I guess it just all needed to come out."

"You didn't freak me out," he assured me.

"Liar," I laughed. "I know how guys minds work, remember. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that guys hate tears."

"Well. Maybe a little," he said. "It's not every day that I get hysterical werewolf girls throwing themselves at me sobbing."

"Hey!" I protested. "I was not hysterical."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh? Then I really hope you never are."

"Well. Maybe a little," I admitted, grinning. "Sorry."

"Now," Brett said, "I think you should stay on the farm with us, as Star. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to get you enrolled in my school—it's public, and they don't care anyway."

"Don't worry about it. I can send the bill to my friend Paul," I said.

"Okay, then," Brett said, his worries about money assuaged. "We can just sneak you out every morning."

"Sounds good," I agreed. Then I grinned cheekily. "Do I still get to be mascot?"

He laughed. "The guys would hunt you down. Trust me."

I had been so focused on Brett that I hadn't noticed the noise of someone coming through the woods. I inhaled, and almost choked. Vampire.

"Get behind me!" I yelled, pulling off my clothes. There was no time for modesty—I had only seconds, if that.

Brett was staring at me, dumbstruck. "Now!" I roared, phasing.

I was barely in time. The vamp slid through the trees, running hard. I timed my jump and leaped, bringing it down.

It didn't try to wrap its arms around me. Good. Not a newborn. I ripped into it furiously, tearing away chunks of it with a ferocity I hadn't known I possessed. It screamed in pain and fury, pummeling my sides. I yelped as one of its hands connected with the side of my head, making it ring. In one fluid movement, it slid out from under me and headed straight for Brett. I snarled and leaped on it once more, locking my jaws around its arm. I tore it off with a screech of breaking rock.

With a final snap of my jaws, I severed the head, silencing its cries. Swiftly, I dismembered the remainder of the corpse, then padded over to my abandoned pile of clothes, searching for the matches and tiny bottle of kerosene Sam insisted we all carry.

What do you know. Something Sam said actually came in handy.

I grabbed my clothes and padded behind a tree. I phased and hurried back out to the pile of limbs—already they were inching towards each other, trying to remake themselves. I poured the kerosene over them and stepped back, lighting a match as I did so. I threw it at the reeking pile and it burst into flame with a roar.

I turned to Brett, nervous.

"What the _hell_ was that?" he managed weakly, his horrified gaze fixed on the awful-smelling fire.

"Vampire," I said grimly. "You must have smelled really good."

Brett's brow furrowed in confusion. "Smelled really good?"

"Your blood. Vamps survive off of blood. For him to come running straight at me, it must have smelled better than usual."

Brett's usually tan face was pale and wan. "Vampires are real?"

"Very," I said. "We're natural enemies. You're lucky I was here, or you'd be a bit dead now."

"I don't get it," he said, frowning. "What did you mean by running straight at you?"

"I smell horrible to a vamp, like they smell horrible to me. Your blood must have smelled pretty damn good for him to come running straight at a stinky archenemy."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Brett looked around nervously. "Are there any more?"

I sniffed. "Nah. Luckily, most vamps travel alone, or in twos. Better food chances."

Brett's face, which had been slowly returning to its usual golden tone, quickly turned green again. "Sorry," I said.

"S'okay," he said, his voice weak. "Just a lot to take in."

I patted his back sympathetically. "You'll get used to it," I told him. "Can we get out of here? That smell is gonna make me hurl."

He blinked at me, a little surprised at my gruffness. I was too. "Sorry," I apologized again. "This whole thing is stressing me out."

Brett nodded. "Don't worry about it." We started walking, heading back to the farm.

"Um," Brett said. "Shouldn't you, uh, you know…" he gestured helplessly with his hands.

"Oh, right. Crap. Thanks," I said, heading behind a tree.

"You can do that out here," Brett joked. "I don't mind."

"But your girlfriend would, Mr. I-want-to-go-all-the-way," I reminded him, poking my head out from behind the tree, and was gratified to see him blush. I phased and picked up my clothes, ready to head back home.

Brett grimaced at me when I emerged. "You know, I think I like you better when you can't talk," he said. I pulled back my lips and growled at him, making him laugh. "Or not," he chuckled. "Come on, Carrie will be getting worried."

We walked home at a slow, leisurely pace. If someone had seen us, we would have looked for all the world like that quintessential relationship—a boy and his dog.

Ha. If only it were that simple.

**So let me know how you liked it in a review…if you hated it, feel free to tell me. But please, please, please review!!**


	7. Just a Bit Awkward

Hey people

**Hey people! Sorry about being so horrendously slow about updating on my stories, but I had finals and they were freaking VICIOUS. But now, they are over, and it's summer, and last night I watched like 9 episodes of Buffy. She is so badass it's insane. I made this chapter really, really long to make up for being such a bad updater—5610 words and counting********Right now, I'm in a car driving to Chicago to play in my last boys hockey tournament ever, and feeling very depressed about it. I'm going to miss my boys. So, I'm dedicating this chapter to them. Rock on, KC Fighting Saints!! **

Brett and I were wandering around in the forest on Sunday morning, talking about nothing in particular, although most of our conversations wound back to our plan to make it better.

There was just one thing—a rather urgent thing.

"I need to go shopping," I said, interrupting Brett's monologue about the people at his school.

He blinked, startled by the interruption. "Oh. Okay," he said, pulling out his cell phone. "I'll call Sarah." His voice was calm and innocent—a little _too _innocent.

"Sarah?" I asked him, hoping that I'd heard wrong. Brett knew that I didn't like Sarah, though I had refused, time and time again, to tell him why, so he chalked it up to a female oddity, or a werewolf thing. But he continued to plead her case with me. Lately it had seemed like he was letting up, but maybe he was just waiting to ambush me.

"I don't what your problem with her is, Leah, " he said, obviously frustrated, and I winced guiltily. I hated upsetting him. "She likes you."

I stared at him. "Well the wolf you," he amended. "Not the human you. But I'm sure she would if she knew you."

"Which she's not going to," I said stonily.

"You're going to the same school as her, Leah," Brett reminded me impatiently. "And if you're going to hang out with me, you're going to hang out with her."

That stung, far more than it should have. I looked away from Brett quickly, blinking rapidly to hide the hot tears that had sprung to my eyes.

I felt Brett's hand touch my shoulder softly, sending a flash of fire through my body. "I'm sorry," he said. "That was mean. But Leah, really, what don't you like about her?"

"I told you, Brett," I said sadly. "My reasons for not liking Sarah are not something you want to hear."

"Yes, I do," he said, his hand still on my shoulder. I was hyper-aware of it, concentrating on not hyperventilating. His hand felt like it was burning, though he lacked the heat of a werewolf. My heart was beating erratically and I tried to calm my heart rate.

Damn, I sound pathetic.

"You really don't, Brett," I repeated. "Trust me. Please, just drop it." The last part I said softly, pleadingly.

He did, fortunately, his hand falling from my shoulder with a sigh. "All right," he told me. "You don't like Sarah for whatever reason; I get that. But I wish you'd get to know all of her."

I sighed, too, trying to keep the pain I felt from it. "Fine," I said. "I'll give her chance. Now, can we go?"

He looked at me. "Go where?"

I shook my head. Men were so clueless…even gorgeous, kind, beautiful imprints like this one. "Shopping, remember?"

His look changed to one of horror, and I stifled a giggle. "Leah, I am not going shopping with you."

I glared at him. I had halfway expected this, knowing how guys hated to go shopping. "Yes, you are. I can't go to school like this." I gesture to my dirt-encrusted tank top and shorts.

"Leah, I don't care if you go naked. I'm not taking you shopping."

"Brett," I complained. "I really, really need to go shopping. Please?" I gave him my best puppy dog look, one I hadn't used in years, but that used to be a one-way ticket to whatever I wanted.

He didn't budge. "I know you need to go shopping," he said stubbornly. "I'm not taking you. But I can call Sarah and have her take you."

I gaped at him, feeling a little betrayed. Hadn't we just gone over this?

"No shopping or Sarah," he said triumphantly. "Take your pick."

I glowered at him furiously, my hands shaking. I could not believe he had just pulled that on me. I felt a familiar red haze at the edges of my brain, creeping steadily forward.

I had told Brett the warning signs, how to stop me if I got too mad, to run if he couldn't calm me down. I had explained to him that when the anger took over, I wasn't really Leah anymore. He saw my hands and stepped forward, placing his hands firmly on my shoulders.

"Leah, calm," he said. I listened to him, making an effort to control my anger. After a tense moment, I was okay again.

"Sorry," I sighed, embarrassed. I was just like Paul these days—the least little thing set me off.

"It's fine," he said. But I really am not going shopping with you.

"Okay," I accepted, too distracted to care that I was now apparently going to be going to school looking like a hobo. I had just come so close to hurting Brett, my imprint, the most important thing to me ever. I had to keep better control of my temper. "Call Sarah. Whatever."

He looked at me, confused. "Um. Okay. We'll need to come up with something, how we met, you know." My sudden lethargy about Sarah threw him, after my vehemence against her.

I snapped out of my daze. "Pen pal?"

He shook his head. "No. I told her that I've never had a pen pal, and she knows all my cousins., too."

"Ummmm…friend from where you used to live?"

"I've lived here my whole life."

I glared at him. "You're not helping, Brett."

He shrugged. "Sorry."

"New neighbor?"

"She knows all the people who live near me, and none of them are moving."

"Brett!"

"Sorry, sorry. Leah, I can't think of anything."

"I had figured that out, funnily enough," I snapped. Where was he going with this?

"I think we should tell her, Leah," he said, his green eyes grave.

"What? That I'm a random stranger who's been living with you? Yeah, that'll go over real well," I griped.

"That you're a werewolf."

His words fell in the sudden silence of the forest. The air thrummed, as though every being there had sucked in a breath and held it, waiting for the explosion to let it out.

I obliged them. "Are you fucking insane?" I shrieked, jumping straight past the hands and hurtling straight into a full body vibration. "You can't tell her that! I only to _you _because…" I cut myself off quickly before I could say too much. "You can't tell Sarah! Being a werewolf is not a casual secret. It's something I can't tell _anyone._ Bo you realize how fast I'd be in some kind of research facility if anyone ever found out about this?"

I could barely string my words together through the cloud of red that fogged my mind. My furious state made itself known with violent tremors that rocked my frame.

"Leah, you need to calm down. Calm. Leah, calm!"

I fought for control, but the monster in me rose up strongly, and I felt myself losing my grip. "Brett, run!" I shrieked, trying frantically to calm myself. _Rainbows and butterflies, Leah, rainbows and butterflies_, I repeated to myself. Brett took off like a shot, while I gripped the tree I was standing near, digging it's rough bark into my skin in an effort to focus, hoping the shock of pain would bring me back.

_Screw this,_ the wolf in me growled, and I felt my control slip away with my shape as I exploded outward into a silver wolf, the red haze overtaking my mind completely. I was still aware, though, the rational part of my mind screaming at me to wake up.

But the anger still boiled in my veins, and I turned on the tree next to me, tearing into it viciously, ripping out chunks with my powerful jaws.

My fury spent, I collapsed to the ground, losing my canine shape and slipping back into my human form, shivering as the wind blew across my bare skin. My clothes were scattered across the clearing, in pieces.

I broke down in sobs, curling up against the trunk of the tree that had borne my anger—anger directed at Brett. The ruined bark did not hurt my back nearly as much as it should have. I had been close, so close, to destroying the center of my universe.

I dug my nails into my sides, longing for the punishment that did not come. Like the bark, my nails did not hurt me nearly as much as they should have. I barely even felt them, thanks to my new, tougher werewolf hide. I pressed my tear streaked face to the tree, the softer skin giving a twinge of pain that I welcomed, and gave myself over to weeping for what I had done, what I had become. A cold hearted, bitter monster.

Warm, muscled arms wrapped around me, the distinct scent telling me that it was Brett. I turned my face away from him, pressing it harder against the splintered wood.

"Get away," I told him, in a thick, tear choked voice. "Get away from me. I'm not good."

His voice was soft, gentle, free of the accusing tone I deserved. "No, Leah. You are good. You are."

"I'm not," I whispered, agonized. I turned myself away from his comforting arms, curling myself into as small a ball as I could manage. "I'm a monster."

"No." His voice was no longer gentle, but neither was it the accusing tone I deserved. It was strong and demanding, ac voice that knew it was right and wasn't going to let up until you admitted it. "You are not a monster. You are a werewolf. There's a difference."

"No there's not," I laughed bitterly. "Check any monster book you want, and I guarantee there'll be a section about werewolves."

"That's Hollywood's version," he whispered to me. "Not you. You are not a monster, Leah. Monsters want to kill, to hurt. That's not you."

"You're wrong," I said, my voice low and bitter. "I hurt lots of people, completely on purpose."

"But it hurts you, too," he told me. He placed a hand under my chin and raised my face. I kept my eyes down, refusing to meet his gaze. "And that's why you're not a monster. Monsters don't care."

I kept my eyes trained on the ground, even though Brett's warm fingers till gripped my chin.

"Please look at me," he whispered.

Finally, I did, catching my breath as his deep green eyes burned intensely into my own plain brown ones.

"You're not a monster," he said, in a voice that left no room for doubt.

_Kiss me! _My mind screamed at him even as it screamed for me to get away. _Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me!_

His bright eyes flickered, and he leaned in towards me, but instead of kissing me, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me into a hug that cut off my air.

I welcomed it, pressing against him forgetting totally that I was naked. I buried my face in Brett's neck, accepting the comfort he was giving me. I whimpered softly, fighting to keep the sobs that were threatening to break out inside.

"Brett?" The voice was soft, wounded, and still completely perfect. Brett and I sprang apart instantly, searching for the source.

Sarah stood in the trees, her eyes shiny with tears, her expression utterly heartbroken.

"I-I heard your voice, and I came to find you and…" her voice trailed off in tears, her face collapsing. "Oh, Brett, how could you?" She whimpered, staring at him like a puppy whose beloved owner had just broken its leg. "You said you loved me."

I hated myself. How could I have done this to Sarah? I was just like Emily.

"No, Sarah, it's not what you think," Brett pleaded, forgetting me and running after her as she turned away, her sobs starting to tear out of her in earnest. I was invisible to both of them.

"Don't touch me, asshole," Sarah spat, the tone and word sounding wrong in her gentle voice. I had never heard her express any kind of anger at anyone, and it shocked me.

"Sarah, please," Brett pleaded again, his own voice heartbroken, and I felt my heart twist in pain. _I _had put that tone in his voice. Who said I wasn't a monster? "Leah is just a friend."

"A _naked_ friend," she spat venomously, and I looked don at myself, surprised. I _was_ naked. I sat down quickly, bringing my knees up to my chest to hide myself.

"Sarah, please listen to me," Brett pleaded, and his voice was so broken, so pain wracked, that she stopped. She did not turn to look at him, however, keeping her face firmly turned away.

"This better be extremely good, Brett," she warned him.

"Leah is a werewolf."

I fought off a wave of betrayal as Brett ousted my deepest, darkest secret to my rival without even a glance at me. _It's better this way, it's better this way,_ I told myself. _He loves her, it's better this way._

Sarah let out a choked sob that sounded lie a snarl and a laugh. "You need to work on your excuses, Brett," she growled, and resumed her retreat.

Brett chased after her, clamping down on her shoulder and halting her progress. She turned on him furiously.

"Please, Sarah," he said. I could see the pain in her eyes as she shook her head; she didn't want to refuse him, and that gave me hope.

"It's true, Sarah," I said, quietly. I was nervous about interfering in this, and desperately anxious about revealing my secret to her. "I'll show you."

Sarah's gaze had snapped to me when I started to speak, and her beautiful blue eyes were narrowed in vicious animosity. "So I'm just supposed to believe that you turn into a giant wolf?" she mocked. The hurt sarcasm in her voice was such a harsh change from her usual soft tones that I blinked.

"Just watch," I said firmly, not looking at Brett, for fear of my voice betraying me. I didn't want to see his eyes, know what he was thinking. I wondered if he knew how great a sacrifice I was making, how terrified I was of this. But I forced it all from my mind, took a deep breath, and phased.

Sarah yelped, stepping back automatically. With my heightened senses, I heard her heartbeat accelerate and smelled the fear that poured from her. I stayed where I was, waiting for her to gather herself and realize that she knew me. She didn't strike me as the type to lose control in the face of a crisis.

Recognition flared in her eyes suddenly, closely followed by disbelief and wonder. "Star?" she whispered uncertainly. "But…how…" her voice trailed off in wonder as she stared at me, and I phased back.

"Oh my God," she said, the bitterness completely gone from her voice, replaced by shock. "You really are…oh, wow."

"See?" I said. "It's not like that, Sarah," I reassured her, sinking back down onto the ground to hide myself. I was comfortable with my body, but I figured it was better not to push Sarah. "I lost control of my temper and phased—that's why I'm naked. My clothes are shredded. And Brett was comforting me, I suppose," I said, unsure of how to put what Brett had done for me. "I didn't deserve it—don't deserve it."

Sarah looked over at Brett, and sighed. "It's okay," she finally said, and Brett's eyes brightened with happiness. He moved so fast I would have thought he was a vampire if I didn't know better, pulling her to him and securing his mouth to hers, kissing her so deeply that I had to fight to keep my face smooth and pain-free, although the sight caused me as much pain as Jacob had been in when the newborn crushed him.

Sarah broke away and turned to me. "But so help me, if I ever see you hugging my boyfriend naked again, I'll rip your head off, werewolf or not."

I tried not to snort in derision—the thought of this tiny little human girl hurting me in any way was laughable. I couldn't keep the amused grin off my face as I agreed.

"Uh, babe?" Brett's voice was hesitant—understandably so, since he had just very nearly lost Sarah. "See, before all this, I was going to call you…Leah's transferring into our school, and I was going to see if you could take her shopping."

Sarah's delicate eyebrows arched up in surprise. "Why? And, for that matter, why is Leah even here?"

Her high-and-mighty tone got my hackles up, and I growled low in my throat. It was a habit I had picked up from my pack, although I was sure I wasn't nearly as intimidating as they were.

But Sarah jumped, letting out a little gasp of fear. "I'd appreciate it if you would talk about me as though I were actually here," I said icily.

I had to give her credit—she didn't back down, even in the face of a pissed-off werewolf. "You were hugging my boyfriend naked," she reminded me angrily. "I don't think you have any room to decide how you want to be treated."

She turned back to Brett, effectively shutting me out of the conversation. I felt a snarl building in my chest. "Why is she here?" she repeated.

Brett looked her in the eye. "She saved Carrie's life, and she was having a tough time at home. I thought she should stay for a while."

I smirked. _Ha! Take that, bitch!_ I thought triumphantly. But I immediately felt guilty when Sarah turned to me, concern in her eyes. "Oh, Leah, I'm sorry, I didn't know," she said regretfully. "I didn't mean to be such a bitch, but I've been dealing with home-wreckers for years, and it's tiring."

Brett smiled down at her tenderly, in the way I wished he would smile at me. "I'm all yours, babe," he assured her, and once more I fought to keep the spasms of pain off my face.

"Why did you want me to take Leah shopping?" Sarah asked.

"Well, like I said before, she enrolled herself in our school, but since she ran away, she didn't bring anything with her. And she destroyed the ones she had a few minutes ago," he said, gesturing to the tatters of clothing scattered around the clearing, and I blushed.

"Of course!" Sarah said, shocked. "I needed to go shopping anyways. You're not coming, are you Brett." It wasn't a question, and she shook her head with amusement as he shook his head quickly, a look of unmistakable horror in his eyes.

"Just checking. Well, Leah, you can't go shopping naked, so why don't you, uh, turn…change…um…" her voice trailed off helplessly.

"Phase?" I asked, and she smiled.

"Yeah. Phase, and I'll drive you back to my place. You can borrow something of mine to go shopping in, and take a shower, because no offense, but it looks like you haven't taken one for weeks."

"That's because I haven't," I said, grimacing. "That sounds great, Sarah. Thanks." I meant it. I still resented her for having Brett, but the more I was with her, the more I liked her…and the more I realized that Brett deserved someone as truly nice as she was, not a bitter harpy like me.

"No problem, Leah," she said, smiling warmly, and I felt my conviction grow. "So, if you're ready, we can go."

"Sounds good," I said. "Oh, hey, Brett, have they sent my new credit card yet?"

He grinned. "Actually, yeah. I was going to give it to you earlier, but…well."

I smiled to—but it was a smile of nostalgia. Paul had pulled through for me yet again. I was so lucky to have someone in the pack who actually didn't hate me.

Brett produced the slim card from his jeans and handed it to Sarah. "You two have fun. I'm leaving, before it gets too…" he trailed off with a shudder, and Sarah and I giggled.

"Bye, baby," she said, wrapping her arms around him and turning her face up to kiss him. I tried to suppress the jealousy burning in my stomach and pain warping my face. Finally, they broke apart, and Brett headed off, to seek refuge before the storm of shopping.

"You can ride me back," I said, turning to Sarah. "It'll be a lot faster, trust me."

She nodded. "Okay." I was impressed. It wasn't everybody who would react so casually to that offer. I phased, and crouched down on the ground to make it easier. She clambered onto my back, and wound her hands into the thick silver fur on my neck. I took off, bounding agilely through the thick trees of the forest. In a matter of minutes, we had reached Sarah's tiny yellow Bug. I snorted in amusement as I listened to Brett still stumbling around in the woods. But I wasn't worried about him. He could take care of himself.

Sarah opened the passenger door and I hopped in, settling myself on the cushy leather seat as she shut the door. I glanced guiltily att my dirt-encrusted paws and carefully eased them off the seat, trying not to make it dirty.

The drive to Sarah's took about ten minutes. The silence wasn't awkward, exactly, but it wasn't comfortable either. I liked Sarah, and I had a feeling she liked me, but there was just that little issue of her being in the way of my imprint, and me hugging her boyfriend naked.

Sarah's car glided easily into the dark garage. She reached over and popped my door, and I eased out of the car, still attempting to leave it in as pristine condition as it had been.

We walked up the stairs, our silence just as uneasy as it had been in the car.

Sarah's room was huge and white, and much barer than what I had expected. It was very different from the frilly pink monstrosity that I had been expecting.

She pointed to a door. "The shower's in there…I'll put a change of clothes in there for you, and then I guess we can go."

I nodded my thanks at her, and stepped into the bathroom. It was very similar to her bedroom, white and luxurious, but with no unnecessary mess. I phased into my human form and brushed my hand against the white towel hanging on the rack. I t was thick and soft, very different from the thin towels I had used most of my life.

I stepped into the hot spray of the shower, letting out a sigh of happiness as the warm stream pounded my back and shoulders, soaking my hair and relaxing muscles I hadn't even known were tensed.

The shampoo was rich smelling and obviously expensive, and I massaged it through my hair, eradicating the dirt that had built up over the last through weeks.

When I finally got out, I felt like a new girl—a cleaner, happier one, maybe someone whose boyfriend hadn't dumped them for their second cousin. It's amazing what a little soap and water can do for a person's perspective.

Sarah had put a pair of jeans and a T-shirt on the toilet, along with a pair of flip flops, a bra that looked like it might actually fit, and a pair of underwear with the tags still on. I smiled.

When I left the bathroom, Sarah was lying on her stomach, feet in the air, and nose in a book. "Thanks for the clothes," I said, smiling, trying to dispel the tension that had hovered around us for so long I wanted to be friends with her, to know that Brett would be happy with her. Of course I wanted Brett more—achingly, painfully so—but seeing him happy would be enough. And he deserved someone who wasn't bitter and heartbroken, someone who was whole.

"No problem," she smiled. It was timid I'll-try-his-for-a-little-while-maybe smile, but it was friendly, and it was a smile. I'd take it.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

I grinned at her. "Yep."

Sarah smiled back and rolled to her feet. "then let's go."

The ride to the mall took almost no time at all, or that's what it felt like. Sarah and I talked the whole way, just getting to know each other and comparing notes on Brett.

"He loves you, you know," I told her, and then felt vaguely guilty for spilling Brett's little surprise. But that was hidden under the rush of pain I felt as I admitted this to her. "He talked to me about it, when he didn't know I was…well, you know."

Sarah fought to keep back an uncertain smile. "You really think so?"

I smiled at her as reassuringly as I could, even though it felt like I was cutting my own heart out. If I was giving Brett happiness, I was going to do it right, godammit. "I know so. Dogs are man's best friend, remember? He told me everything. Speaking of which—"I smiled slyly, doing my best imitation of a gossipy girl, and digging the knife deeper,"—have you two done it yet?"

Sarah blushed immediately—a bright shade of red that reminded me of Jacob's Bella. I felt a sudden flash of sympathy and understanding for him, and I felt yet another pang of guilt as I remembered the awful things I had said to him the day he ran away. "How did you know about that?"

I shrugged, still grinning. "I guessed. He was talking about it a few weeks ago."

She laughed and shook her head, pulling neatly into a parking space. "He really did tell you everything."

We shopped for several hours, laughing and talking like the best of friends—and that was how I felt. I really, truly, honestly liked Sarah. She brought out the best in me, and it only made my conviction stronger. I would not be the one to break these two apart.

Sarah was good at fashion, too. She seemed to have a homing instinct fort the most flattering clothes and styles for the two of us, and I bought nearly everything I tried on—which was a lot. Goodbye college fund. Oh well. It's not like I had been planning to go anyway.

"You are my fashion guru now," I told her, giggling and laden with a half dozen stuffed shopping bags. For the first time in a long time, I felt like a girl. She giggled back, weighed down with just as many.

"Cool. I'm fashion guru to a werewolf now," she laughed as we walked into the last store on her mental list. I looked around, puzzled.

"When am I gonna need a _dress_?" I asked her, nonplussed. I was pretty sure that I didn't exactly exude an I-wear-dresses aura, but Sarah looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Every girl needs a dress, just in case," she told me, and began flipping through the racks. I sighed and followed suit, setting my bags somewhere I could keep an eye on them. Not that I couldn't chase down a thief if I needed to, but it was probably better to retain a halfway human façade.

We were at it for nearly a quarter of an hour before Sarah gave shriek of triumph and produced a dress. I t was a bright white, with an incredible ct that was sure to show off my every curve and display just the right amount of skin without being slutty. I had a pretty bandeau neckline, and the simple hem stopped just a few inches above my knees.

"Yeah," I said. "This is the dress."

It was the work of a minute to buy the dress, and I was completely ready to head home. But Sarah had other plans.

"Come on," she said, dragging me into a nail salon. "Your cuticles are hideous."

I protested, but thanks to the hours of shopping I couldn't pout up much of a fight., and in a few minutes I found myself in a sift chair with my feet in a bubbling tub of hot water. I looked over at Sarah, who was lying back in her chair with an expression of bliss. "Okay," I said. "You were right. This is heaven."

She cracked one eye and grinned at me. "I know."

When we emerged from the nail salon, my nails glistening a bloody red, hers a bubblegum pink, Sarah took me straight to a hair salon. I went quietly, knowing it would be useless to fight her.

"Dear God!" The stylist exclaimed in horror when he saw my hair, and my eyes narrowed dangerously. "When was the last time you cut your hair? I've never seen split ends so bad!"

Now I was embarrassed. "My eyes trained o the floor, I muttered, "I don't remember."

Actually, I _did_ remember. It had been during my last few happy days with Sam, before he had disappeared for the two weeks that had changed everything. When I had returned from Port Angeles sporting my new hair, he'd kissed me and told me I looked beautiful.

"Well, no matter," he said briskly, unaware of the painful memory he had just dragged up. He pulled me over to a chair and pushed me down in it, circling me and tugging at locks of my hair. "We're going to need to cut it quite a bit of course, and I think some layers…" With that, he went to work on my hair, first gathering it into a ponytail and looping off the bottom half, so that my hair hung just below my shoulder blades. Then he hauled me over to the sink and wet my hair, so that it clung to my head like a dark, shiny helmet.

When the stylist was finished snipping off bits of my hair, he sprayed something on it and dried it with a diffuser. The end effect was that my usually stick-straight hair curled softly around my shoulders inn loose waves.

"Perfect!" my stylist exclaimed, spinning me around so that I could look at myself in the mirror.

A gorgeous young woman stared back at me, her face clean and eyes bright, so different from all the other times I had stood before e mirror. Despite my russet skin, ever since Sam left me my skin had always had gray tint. Now it was gone, replaces with a healthy bronze glow and glossy black hair. I looked like myself again, the strong, confident, kind girl I had been before Sam and Emily betrayed me. I looked like _Leah_, not just a shell.

We paid the stylist, and headed back to Sarah's car, lugging our bags. They took up her entire trunk and backseat, and overflow of cloth and paper.

"Thanks," I said, as we pulled into Brett's driveway, fifteen minutes before Carrie and his mom were due home. "Really."

Sarah grinned at me. "No problem. I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," I said, smiling and opening my door. I quickly gathered up my many bags and hauled them into Brett's house, waving one last time at Sarah.

Brett was sprawled across his bed, playing some kind of handheld video videogame. When I came in, his jaw dropped.

"What the hell."

I grinned at him playfully. "I told you I needed to go shopping."

He examined my bags with an incredulous expression on his face. "No kidding. Uh, Leah"

"What?"

"I can't keep this stuff in my room. mom goes through here all the time and she'll think I've gone homo."

"Can't we hide it somewhere?" I asked, feeling the beginnings of panic. Now we had only ten minutes.

"Not in here we can't,' e said, furrowing his brow. "But maybe we could hide them in the attic."

I frowned. "An attic? You don't have an attic."

Brett grinned. "Exactly." He got off t his bed and went into his closet, flicking on the light. He pushed aside some of his shirts and revealed a small door. He pushed it open, revealing a fairly sizable crawl space."

"That's not an attic," I said, too shocked to say anything else. Brett grimaced

"Well, what else do you want me to call it?" he laughed. "Main thing is, my mom doesn't eve know this thing exists. It's the perfect spot."

"True," I agreed, and went back out to get my bags.

Five minutes later, every trace of my shopping trip had been banished to the crawl space. "Well," Brett said, surveying his now clean room. "Guess you'd better phase back."

I sighed. "Yeah," I said. "I'll put my stuff in there." I walked into the closet and stripped, shoving my clothes in along with the bags. I closed the door and arranged the shirts over it so that it was as hidden as before, and phased back.

Just in time. A car door slammed, and pattering footsteps raced into the house, barging up the stairs and into Brett's room.

"Star!" Carrie yelled, throwing her arms around me and squeezing. "Hi Star! Guess where I was? I had so much fun! You would have had so much fun!" She prattled on for another ten minutes about her friend's very exciting birthday party, which had apparently been at Chuckie Cheese's. How fun.

Finally, Carrie was sent to bed, and I curled up on Brett's carpet, closing my eyes. "Night, Leah," Brett whispered quietly. I whuffed softly in response, and surrendered to unconsciousness, too tired to even contemplate school in the morning.

**Okay, so now that you have slogged through that disgustingly long chapter, feel free to review!! If you want to leave me death threats for being so slow, that's okay, as long as you review! And flames don't bother me, as long as you don't mind if I reply in my own defense******** Wish me luck in the tourney!!**


	8. Mr Laughy Pants

I woke up just as the light of the breaking dawn (A/N: Hee

**I am so, so, so, so, so, sorry for not updating for so long. I know all of you must want to kill me. But, again, it's a nice, long chapter. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be updating very quickly, because my life is about to get A LOT more hectic. Since I'm on a AAA travel team, I'm going to be flying to tournaments pretty much every other weekend, plus I have to keep my grades up, work out, and keep my room clean, so I'll barely have any time at all for writing. Sorry********. And hopefully I'll be updating my other story soon, so go check it out! (The New Alpha) Love you all!! (No homo********)**

**And thanks to the band Vertical Horizon, who serenaded me all the way through this 5,536 word chapter. If you haven't heard them before, go check them out!! They're amazing!**

**Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer, and I don't own Twilight, dammit.**

I woke up just as the light of the breaking dawn **(A/N: Hee! Sorry, I couldn't resist.** **Wasn't it AMAZING??)** started to shine through Brett's window. I got up from the rug on the floor, stretching out stiff muscles and joints.

I sighed contentedly and looked at Brett, sleeping so peacefully on his bed. The light just barely illuminated the top of his head, making golden lights sparkle in his hair, mussed from a night of sleep. His brilliant green eyes—bright, clear emeralds—were hidden from me at the moment, although I guessed not for long.

I felt vaguely stalkerish watching him sleep, although I wanted nothing more than to stay and gaze at him. I dragged myself away, going over to the closet and phasing to human, closing the door swiftly. I opened the door to the thingamajig (I was still undecided about what to call it), hunting through the many bags until I found a good set of first day clothes: comfortable, faded jeans with several destroyed patches, a simple black tank and a lacier royal blue tank over that. I paired this with black flip flops, and set out the necklace I had found with a gorgeous pewter charm depicting a howling wolf. I added a black athletic jacket, to guard against bad weather.

I had decided against buying a purse, figuring that a backpack would carry anything I needed. I unearthed it from one of the bags, admiring its bleached white color before shoving my cell, some money, various makeup, and some notebooks and pens into it. I set the pile just inside the door to the thingamajig and backed out into the closet, shutting the door and phasing.

I padded back into Brett's room, feeling my lips slide into a gently grin over my sharp canines as he breathed evenly in and out.

The light through the window was now much brighter, and as I watched, Brett's face twitched, just slightly. I felt a slight pang that the light was disturbing him, and fought the urge to go over and close the blinds. I reminded myself that everyone woke up like this, every morning. Some people even woke up by alarm clock.

He made a soft, odd noise, a cross between a whimper and a grunt, and rolled over.

It took him nearly ten minutes to wake up. I waited patiently, resting my head on my paws, content to simply take in the beauty of his face.

When his eyes finally opened, the sun was beating forcefully through his window, and his clock was flashing 7:15 in red.

He let out a low moan, scrunching his eyes closed and stretching. I gasped quietly at the sudden flexing of his muscles, then mentally slapped myself for being such a freak.

He swung his feet out of bed, shuddering at the sudden chill of his room. He glanced my way blearily, blinking several times. A small smile touched his gorgeous face.

"Morning, Leah," he yawned, getting to his feet. I whuffed and padded into the closet, purposefully nudging the door behind his shirts. He shuffled over and opened it, rubbing his eyes. I pawed at the pile I had made just fifteen minutes earlier, looking up at him to make sure he understood.

He did, dragging out a simple black sports bag and shoving my stuff into it haphazardly. I grinned happily and nosed his hand before trotting downstairs so he could shower and get dressed.

His mom, Laura, was already in the kitchen, cooking pancakes on the stove. I had a healthy respect for her now, after hearing Brett tell me about when his dad, Mark, had died. Laura, then a stay-at-home mom, had hidden her tears for a while, bagging a job and a healthy income within three weeks of Mark's death. Only after had she allowed herself to mourn her dead husband. Laura was usually mild-mannered, but if anything, anything at all, threatened her children, she immediately went on the offensive, which explained her somewhat hysterical first reaction to me.

I empathized with Brett, contemplating how different Laura and my own mother were. Since my father's death, Sue had retreated into her own mind, becoming unresponsive to everything. Laura, clearly, had handled herself much better. I thought of my father, wherever he was, hoping that now he could eat as much red meat as he wanted and not have to worry about heart problems. I hoped my mother wasn't too worried about me, although I was sure the pack was keeping her updated.

_Damn straight, _Seth's voice resounded in my mind, and I winced involuntarily. I had been trying to ignore the pack, and quickly shut Seth's voice out of my mind. I hadn't been hearing much from them lately—apparently they were trying to give me space. I snorted inwardly. Jacob was a constant presence in my mind, although he really formed mo actual thoughts, just instincts. Thinking back to that horrible day when I had left, I regretted my words to Jacob. I understood him and how he had felt just a little bit better, now that I was going through this nightmare.

_I'm sorry too._ Jacob's voice flashed through my mind, and my eyes widened with shock. But it was gone just as quickly as it had come, a brief flash of humanity before Jacob was swallowed by the wolf once more. The rest of the pack was frozen for a moment, before breaking out in excitement.

_Jake!_

_Jacob!_

_Where are you, man?_

_Come home this instant._ That was Sam, of course. I snorted. Taking away someone's free will; yep, that was Sam.

_You're only still wherever you are because I allowed it_, Sam said imperiously. I growled, and Laura glanced at me, alarmed. I whined and wagged my tail, then snarled at Sam.

_That's not true, and you know it. You just can't make me follow your orders._ I was smug, almost daring him to try it. I knew my own strength now. I could resist him.

_I'm not going to fall for that, Leah. I don't know why you have stay away, but I won't force you to return home._

_Won't you?_ I though viciously, remembering the many times weeks before that he had tried to order me home.

Laura was staring at me now, obviously wondering what the hell was wrong with me. If I had been her, I would have too. I had been standing completely stationary for at least two minutes, and growled for absolutely no reason at all. To reassure her, I shoved my head into her hand, the way my old dog had done when he wanted to be pet. She laughed and smoothed the fur on my head several times before turning back to her pancakes.

"Your breakfast is over there, sweetie," Laura said, indicating the plastic bowl on the floor that I was beginning to despise. I padded unwillingly over to it, surveying the unappetizing brown pellets that reeked of grease and other unmentionable things. How normal dogs ate his stuff, I had no idea. But in keeping with my charade, I took a few bites, fighting a gag reflex every time I swallowed.

I lounged around outside for several minutes, until I heard Brett moving around swiftly upstairs, and with good reason: when I went back into the kitchen to glance at the clock, it said 7:35. Brett only had five minutes to be ready to go before he was late. I bounded up the stairs, only to be sidetracked by Carrie, who came hurtling out of her room and smacked into me, wrapping pudgy arms around me.

"Good morning doggy!" she cried happily. I grinned in spite of myself. Children were something I generally avoided, but there was something so innocent about Carrie that made it impossible for me to dislike her. And unlike most kids her age, she was actually capable of doing things for herself, rather than just whining until an adult came to help her.

Brett came out if his room and saw the predicament I was in. He picked up Carrie and hauled her downstairs, where Laura was waiting in the kitchen. He handed her off, and Laura quickly settled her with a plate of pancakes.

"I'm putting Star out for the day," Brett said. His mother and sister barely glanced up from what they were doing. Brett opened the door and trotted out, straight to Brett's jeep like we had planned. I jumped in, settling myself in the back amid the sea of old socks and other things. I pressed a paw against my nose, trying not to breathe too deeply. The aroma of old guy sweat was not pleasant, even if the guy was your gorgeous imprint.

Brett emerged from the house a few minutes later, his backpack and the bag with my clothes slung over his shoulder.

He settled himself into the driver's seat and tossed the bag into the back. Grateful that Brett had put up the top, I phased back to human and dug through bag for my underwear. I located it quickly and pulled it on, hiding behind Brett's seat. In a few minutes, I had put on the rest of my clothes and was almost done applying makeup. Brett flung me a plastic baggie with five pancakes in it.

"Thank you," I said gratefully. My werewolf appetite had been very unhappy lately, what with the dog food and all, and several times I had gone hunting in the woods, even though I hated eating like that.

The pancakes were gone in seconds, and Brett glanced back with surprise. "Wow. I guess you were hungry."

"Werewolf," I said as we pulled dup to Sarah's house, right on time. She walked swiftly down the sidewalk, looking as much like a supermodel as ever.

I pushed aside the pain and jealousy as she opened the door and greeted Brett with a kiss. To my surprise, I found that I was actually pleased to see her. Besides the fact that she made Brett happy, I was beginning to think of her as my friend.

"Hey, Leah," Sarah said, looking back at me over the seat and smiling. I grinned back.

"Hey Sarah. What's up?"

She grimaced, although the expression made her face no less beautiful. "Test today. But I studied last night, so I should be okay. How 'bout you? Excited about your first day?"

I shrugged. "Kinda nervous." It was true; my stomach had been shivering with nerves since I had woken up.

She grinned at me, and I couldn't help smiling; her good mood was infectious. "Don't worry. Everyone will love you, especially the boys."

I blinked at her. "'Scuse me?" I finally managed.

Sarah laughed. "Leah, you're gorgeous, you're smart, and you're mysterious. They are going to be _all_ over you."

I stayed silent as I processed this information. I did _not_ want a bunch of guys drooling over me, and I knew from personal experience that most guys did not understand 'No' unless you hit them over the head with it.

Brett glanced back at me, grinning. "I can set you up with my friends, if you want," he offered, his eyes glinting wickedly. I suppressed a spasm of pain that threatened to shoot across my face. _Brett _wanted to set me up with his _friends_.

I fought to stifle the urge to tell him everything. Sarah and Brett, unaware of my internal struggle, continued to smirk at me.

"Well?" Brett asked. I smiled weakly at his hopeful face.

"Maybe. I'll have to meet your friends first, won't I?" I said, attempting to stall.

"True," he said. "But you'll like them, I promise."

"Except Sam," Sarah advised. "Stay away from Sam."

Brett nodded in assent. "She's probably right. Sam can be a bit of a jackass."

_Ya think? _I thought. It seemed that jackass-itis was a disease shared by all Sams worldwide.

A few minutes later, we were pulling up to the school: two pretty brick buildings with ivy practically smothering them. Between them was a wide green quad. The grass looked thick and springy, and was dotted with trees here and there.

"It's beautiful," I said, somewhat shocked. The school in La Push was nowhere near as nice as this. "You said this was a public school?"

"Yep," Brett grinned. "The state felt sorry for us poor hick kids living way out in the middle of nowhere, so we've actually got a lot of really nice stuff. There's a football field, a swimming pool, soccer fields, and an ice rink right here on campus."

"Wow," I said, even more impressed. All we had back home was a field full of dying grass, and the nearest pool and ice rink were in Port Angeles.

We climbed out of the car, and Brett immediately headed off to find his hockey buddies. "Bye, babe," he said, kissing Sarah on the forehead. She smiled at him and turned back to me.

"Come on. I'll take you to the office and we'll pick up your schedule and stuff," Sarah said.

I smiled at her. "Thanks."

On the walk to the office, a short brunette girl joined us. "Hey Sarah!" she chirped, and I winced. I despised people who chirped. Or perpetually perky people, and I suspected this girl would fit both these perfectly.

"Morning Chelsea," Sarah said. "This is Leah. She just moved here."

I smiled as politely as I could. Chelsea grinned. "That's so cool! Where did you move from?"

"La Push," I told her.

"La Poosh?" she asked, frowning. "I've never heard of it."

"It's an Indian reservation," I said, gritting my teeth to prevent the multitude of rude comments that threatened to spill out of my mouth.

"That is like, so totally cool!" Chelsea said. "Do you have to, like, go hunting and live in teepees and stuff?"

"Uh, no," I said, my tone a little sharper. My _God_, this girl was a ditz. "It's like a regular town."

"Oh," she said, slightly crestfallen. Then she brightened. "Can you teach me how to make moccasins? They're so cute!"

"I don't know how." I was doing my best not to scream in frustration, but Chelsea was just so _stupid!_ I was having a hard time believing that she'd been smart enough to learn how to walk.

"Hey Chelse?" Sarah interrupted politely. _Thank God._ "We still have to go pick up Leah's schedule. I'll see you at lunch, okay?"

"Okay!" Chelsea chirped, and trotted away, no doubt to go annoy somebody else.

I stared at Sarah as we started walking again. "How do you _stand_ that girl?" I asked. "She's such a ditz!"

"She's not that bad," Sarah defended, then laughed. "Okay, she's a bit on the dim side, but she's a sweet girl, and she's funny."

"A bit on the dim side," I said flatly. "She asked me if I lived in a teepee."

Sarah snorted. "She's not usually this bad, but I guess everybody has their off days."

"I guess," I said. A passing guy glanced at us, and then did a double take.

"Hey Sarah! Who's the new girl?" he yelled. I scowled.

"The 'new girl' is standing right here, and is perfectly capable of answering herself," I said icily. Sarah hid a grin behind her hand.

The guy raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry. What's your name, new girl?"

"Leah," I said. Then I grabbed Sarah's arm and tugged. "Come on." We walked away from the obnoxious guy, and Sarah finally giggled.

"Do you know who you just brushed off?" she laughed.

I scowled. "No, and I don't particularly care," I said.

"That was Brad Thompson. He's the most popular guy in school," she said. "All the girls want to go out with him. He's kind of an asshole, but he is _hot._"

I tried to picture the obnoxious guy's face, but I couldn't. "I didn't see it," I said.

Sarah laughed. "Well, I hate to break it to you, Leah, but that little stunt you just pulled is going to make you the most talked about girl in school."

I sighed morosely. "Great. Got any tips to make the guys leave me alone?"

"Nope. Sorry," she told me. "You're new, and we almost _never_ get any new students, so everyone is going to be interested in you for the next month or so."

I glared at a guy whose eyes were trained on my chest. "Hey. Buddy. My face is up here," I said irritably.

Sarah grinned at me. "You're not helping yourself, you know."

"I know," I sighed. "But I can't just take that lying down, you know?"

"Just try not to kill anybody," she said, grinning.

I grinned back. "I'll do my best."

We reached the office, and I was quickly supplied with a schedule, books, and a locker. Sarah snatched my schedule and looked it over, highlighting classes with her in pink and classes with Brett green. The classes with all three of us were blue.

"Wow," I said, examining my modified schedule, which no longer had any white at all on it. "I guess I got lucky."

"Well," Sarah said, grinning. "I might have pulled a few strings."

I smirked and ruffled her hair playfully. "I just bet you did," I said as she glared at me, producing a brush and smoothing down her hair.

"Come on," she said, yanking my arm. "We've only got two minutes to get to math."

I groaned. I hated math with a passion. "Do we have to?" I whined.

She huffed, trying to pull me along. I went grudgingly. "Yes!"

On the way to class, I got three 'Hey's', five glances, and two 'What's up, hot stuff's. Needless to say, I was not pleased.

"What is it with boys in this school?" I complained as we slid into our seats with seconds to spare. "Do they not get laid or something?"

Sarah giggled quietly. "I told you! You're the new mystery girl. Plus you're a badass. They want to know what's up with you!"

I scowled at her and turned my attention to the teacher, an aging woman whose mousy brown hair was streaked with a dead-looking gray. Her voice was flat, with no inflection whatsoever, and combined with the scratching of the chalk, I had to work to stay awake. My eyelashes felt like they had been covered in concrete.

When the bell finally rang, I bolted out of my seat as fast as I could, barely pausing to check my schedule. It was colored green: Brett.

Sarah checked my schedule, too, and pointed me in the right direction. "You'll like Lit. Ms. Harwin is really cool."

"If you say so," I said doubtfully. Reading had never been a big thing for me. Or anything academic, really. I was an outdoors kind of girl. The only thing I did that could be considered at all academic was drawing.

Sarah turned away. "I've gotta get to science. See you!" she yelled, and vanished into the crowd.

Without Sarah to protect me, the guys got bolder. I put up with the jeering comments and glances, but when a guy actually grabbed my chest and then attempted to walk away, I snapped.

"What the HELL?" I roared, spinning around and grabbing the offender by the front of his shirt. I noted distantly that my hands were shaking, but couldn't quite bring myself to care. I lifted the guy into the air.

"What the fuck is your problem? Do you think it's okay for guys to go around grabbing girls boobs and then expect to get away with it?" I was furious, seething.

"News flash, buddy! I am a person! Not a toy! And my face," I gestured to my head, "is up here! Not on the front of my shirt! Okay?"

The guy nodded frantically, as did a multitude of other guys in the hallway. Some of the girls looked horrified, while others were cracking up.

I dropped the guy and spun away, stalking off to my lit class and trying to calm myself. _Idiot! _I berated myself._ How could you lose control like that? Do you have any idea what could have happened if you had phased back there?_

I was so distracted that I barely noticed the whispers that followed me, so when a tall, rangy blond girl stopped me, I almost took her head off.

"What?" I snarled as she grabbed my arm. She laughed.

"No need to get hostile! That was totally badass," she said, grinning. "Tony needed to get taken down a peg."

I smiled warily, my bad mood somewhat dissipated. "Hopefully I accomplished that. Does he do that all the time?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. He's such an idiot. Girls have complained, but all he gets is a detention, and that doesn't bother him. Now, though…well. He's going to think twice before he tries that again!" She laughed, and I laughed with her. I liked her.

"I'm Leah," I said. "What's your name?"

"Morgan," she replied. "I do have one question, though. How on earth did you lift him above your head with one hand? Even I can't do that, and I work out all the time. I'm pretty strong, if I do say so myself."

"Uh, well," I stammered. _Shitshitshit._ "I, uh, I…play hockey!" I said desperately, grabbing the first excuse I could think of.

Morgan's wide grin lit up her whole face. "Seriously? Me too! How long have you played?"

_Fuck._

"Uh, since I was five," I said, hoping desperately that she would just drop this.

"Boys or girls?"

"Boys," I said. I didn't even know they _had _girls hockey.

"Well, I guess that explains it," she said. "Eleven years playing boys hockey…no wonder you could lift that guy above your head! I've only played for five years myself, and only two years on a boys team. Are you going to play for our team?"

"Uh," I stuttered, feeling completely trapped.

"You should try out with me!" Morgan said, excited. "You'd make it for sure. And it would be so much more fun to have another girl on the team."

"I don't think—"I began, but Morgan cut me off.

"They scheduled me a special tryout next week. I'll talk to them and get them to include you too. Oh, this is going to be awesome! Well, I've gotta get to drawing. Bye!" With that, she turned and walked away, moving too quickly for me to catch her.

Feeling sick, I headed to Lit. Brett would help me out with this.

He was already sitting in his chair, and I rushed over him, dropping into the seat next to him. "I am in such deep shit," I hissed. "This random girl named Morgan thinks I've played hockey for eleven years, and she thinks I'm trying out for your team next week!"

Brett blinked at me. "What the hell?" he asked. I explained to him about losing my temper and lifting Tony over my head. He burst out laughing. "Only you, Leah," he chuckled.

I glowered at him. "I'm so glad you're enjoying this, Mr. Laughy Pants, but this is really a pretty big problem! Could you pay attention for just one second?"

He cracked up again. "Did you…seriously…just…call me…Mr. Laughy Pants?"

I smiled in spite of myself. It _was_ a pretty stupid thing to say. But I forced myself back to the matter at hand. "Brett, I'm serious! She is totally convinced that I'm some hotshot hockey player and I'm going to try out with her! What am I going to do?"

Brett considered me seriously now, and it made me somewhat nervous.

"We make you one," he said finally, in such a sensible tone that it took me a minute to process his words. When they finally got through, I gaped at him.

"_What_?" was all I could manage. Unfortunately for me, the teacher chose that moment to make her appearance, effectively halting all conversations without her even having to say anything. Everybody was looking at her attentively, and I looked her over.

She did look pretty cool. She was young, in her late twenties at the most, and very pretty. I glanced around and noticed how every single guy was staring at her as though she were the only thing in the room, and smirked to myself. Even Brett was gazing at her.

Unlike most of the other teachers at the school, Ms. Harwin was fit and wore cool clothes. That shirt, especially…I'd have to ask her where she got it.

Once the lesson started, I barely remembered my rather urgent problem. Ms. Harwin made class so _interesting._ She knew all kinds of myths, and was constantly comparing them to different works of literature.

At the end of class, I stopped by her desk to introduce myself. "Hi," I said, and she glanced up, her face breaking out into a smile. "I'm Leah Clearwater. I just moved here from the Quileute reservation."

At this, she positively beamed. "The Quileutes! Such an interesting people. Would I be correct in assuming that you know their legends of werewolves and cold ones? So fascinating! If it's not too much to ask, I'd love to have a chat with you sometime about them. I'm sure you know much more about them than I do, since you actually grew up on the reservation."

I stared, somewhat taken aback by the sudden inflow of information. I felt a small twitch of alarm that she actually knew the werewolf legends—there weren't very many people who knew our legends at all. I regretted telling her where I was from.

"No, that wouldn't be a problem," I heard myself saying, then immediately wanted to take it back. "Well, actually—" I began, but she cut me off.

"Wonderful! Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you, Leah. I can't wait for our little chat!" She reached for my hand, and I, stupid, stunned werewolf girl that I was, extended mine to her and shook it. I saw her eyes widen when she felt the heat that was practically blasting off my body, but she said nothing. Her gaze sharpened, though, and I had to restrain myself to keep from yanking my hand out of hers.

"Bye," I said, turning away. I walked swiftly to the door, and when I looked back, her eyes were still trained on me, as sharp as a hunting eagle's.

I hurried to my next class, Spanish, which according to my schedule, I had with both Brett and Sarah. When I walked in, Brett had just finished telling Sarah my pitiful story, and she had tears in her eyes, she was laughing so hard. I plopped down beside Sarah, I stared straight forward, stunned and fearful.

"Leah? What's wrong?" Sarah asked, concerned. I forced a smile and turned to face her.

"Nothing," I said innocently. "Except for the fact that I am now apparently a hockey player."

"Yeah, heard about that," Sarah said sympathetically. "And not even from Brett. There are rumors running rampant in the halls about the new drop-dead gorgeous hockey girl who lifted Tony by his shirt."

I groaned and buried my head in my arms. _Could this day get any worse?_ I thought, then immediately regretted it. I had just basically guaranteed that it would.

"What am I going to do?" I moaned miserably.

"Leah," Brett said triumphantly. "All I can say is that you are very lucky that you are friends with the captain of the hockey team, because as captain, I have a key to the rink. We can practice from now until the tryouts. You'll be the next Wayne Gretzky in no time."

"Who?" I asked, and Brett howled before dropping his head onto his arms. When he looked up again, he was morose.

"Maybe Mario Lemieux," he said. I almost said, "Who?" again, but judging from the expression on Brett's face, that would not be a wise idea.

"You can skate, I assume?" he asked, his good mood returned. I looked at him like he was nuts.

"Are you serious? I've never been skating in my life."

And just like that, his good mood was gone again. He looked me over and sighed. "We have a _lot _of work to do," he sighed.

I sighed too, and Sarah laughed at us, the two dejected people beside her. "It's not as bad as it seems," she said comfortingly. "You're a werewolf. I'm sure you'll have no problem with it."

I got through the rest of my morning classes as well as I could, scowling as I heard the whispers and mutters about the new girl.

At lunch, I sat with Brett and Sarah at a table filled with cheerleaders and hockey players. But as soon as I saw the glint in both Brett and Sarah's eyes, it was all I could do to not stand right back up again.

Brett wasted no time. "Have you guys met Leah yet?" he asked his team, knowing perfectly well that they hadn't. I shot him a death glare, which he casually ignored.

"No, but dude, we heard you lifted Tony by his shirt after first period," one guy said. "Nice going! I didn't know chicks could do that."

I scowled at him, directing my wrath at him. "Call me a chick one more time," I warned him, and the other guys laughed.

"Hot temper, huh?" a different guy asked. He was tall, even sitting down, with shaggy blond hair and twinkling blue eyes. I recognized him from the game: Bryan.

"The hottest," Sarah said slyly, and I shifted my glare to her. But it was too late; every single guy at the table, except Brett, looked me over, and then kept staring at me. But not at my face.

"Excuse me," I said grumpily. "Eyes up here." I pointed at my face. The guys were taken aback for a second.

"So, I hear you're going to try out for the team," Bryan said, trying diffuse the suddenly somewhat awkward silence.

"Yeah," I replied, unenthused. "Don't know if I'll make it, though."

"Dude, you lifted a guy with one hand!" he exclaimed. "If you don't make it, sexism has invaded Valley Falls."

"Thanks," I said wryly. I supposed, as boys went, Bryan wasn't so bad. I tried to see him the way I would have if I had not imprinted. He was actually really hot, besides being funny and somewhat less sexist than his teammates. I had not missed the smirks that ran around the table when my tryout was mentioned. It made me determined to get good enough to actually make the team, crazy amount of time it would take be damned.

"Wait until you meet our mascot," another guy said. I vaguely remembered him as Corey. He had chocolate brown eyes and blond hair, set in a bit of a babyface. "She's awesome."

"I bet," I said, suddenly feeling nauseous. I had forgotten that I was the mascot. I shot a panicked glance at Brett, who was chewing his lunch placidly, apparently not having heard. Sarah, though, was watching me, her gaze somewhat frantic.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. It would do me no good to freak out now. Besides, I already had enough of a reputation for being hot-tempered as it was. Not that I didn't deserve it, but…well.

Thankfully, lunch ended quickly, and I had a free period with Sarah. "What am I going to do?" I hissed as soon as we sat down.

She was equally worried. "I don't know. I mean, it's not like you can be both. As a player, you have to be at the games, but the same goes for the mascot. You're going to have to give up one or the other. I'd recommend just telling people that you decided not to try out."

I sighed. "I can't do that. It would feel too much like surrender."

"Well, if that's what you want," Sarah said skeptically. "Fair warning though: these guys are really good. It's going to take a lot of work for you to be able to make the team in a week."

I grimaced. "I know. Mascot, remember? But I actually do know quite a bit about hockey. I watched lots of games growing up."

"But you still don't know who Wayne Gretzky is?" Sarah asked, puzzled. "Even I know that."

"I didn't pay much attention to the names of anyone," I said. "I just watched the playing."

"I guess that explains it," Sarah laughed. "Well, he's considered the greatest hockey player of all time, so now you know."

"Cool," I said. All of a sudden, exhaustion hit me as the enormity of what I was going to do hit me. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhng," I groaned, laying my head down on the table. Sarah looked at me, concerned.

"Are you okay?" she asked doubtfully.

"Tired," I managed, before falling asleep.

Sarah woke me up at the end of our free period, and I slogged miserably through the rest of the day, even ignoring the catcall that was tossed my way.

Finally, school was over. But not hell. Oh, no. Five minutes after we got home, Brett honked. I trudged outside to see what his problem was.

"Ready?" he asked. "If you want to be prepared for next week, we have to start right now."

"No," I groaned. But I got in anyways. "Let's go."

**Ta da!! There you have it. Now I have to go finish up my summer homework, so buh-bye for now! And don't forget…REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! The more reviews I get, the more motivated I'll be to update, and you won't have to wait…what was it? Like two months?...for a chapter again! Love you all!**

**Now…go listen to Vertical Horizon! (I recommend Inside.)**


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